tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57943606877849635412024-03-05T07:12:24.488-05:002040worldviewAn imperfectly focussed view of our world.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger206125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-87127622274165915182013-03-06T09:38:00.003-05:002013-03-06T09:40:42.036-05:00Getting OrganizedIt's time to get organized! <br />
I'm getting organized. Again! I'm doing it now. The important thing about getting organized is to STAY ON TASK! So, as soon as I finish this blog post it's right back to GETTING ORGANIZED!<br />
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I've read hundreds of articles and even books on how to get organized. These can be inspiring. And they've helped me to get organized. Many many times. For one day. The challenge for me is sticking with it. Like most things.<br />
Stay positive! You've got to believe that you can get, be, and stay organized. Embrace positive thoughts. Reject and purge negative thoughts. In the prior paragraph I changed my first word choice, "problem," for "challenge." See. Positive. Sometimes these little things count. But most-times not.<br />
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Getting organized reduces stress, saves you money, and generally improves your life. Personally, I wouldn't know, but all those things are very appealing. So, I'm in. My approach so far has been to wake up, think about what I was supposed to do by today, panic, then run around and do it. Mixed results. Definitely room for improvement. I need to PRIORITIZE!<br />
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Not remembering things has been a big issue. So, now I write down lists of the things I need to do. "To do" lists. All the organized people do this. I can write "To do" lists, so I do. I have lots of "To do" lists. On each of my 4 computers, in multiple notebooks of various types, on several pads of yellow paper, some "Task" thingies on the web, and on the backs of envelopes. Frankly, my "To do" lists haven't been very helpful. I need a better system.<br />
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I also need a calendar. (I just found out that I didn't know how to spell calendar. Yay, spell check!) Like the "To do" lists, I have a lot of calendars. There's always a sense of hope when I go to Office Max and buy a brand new calendar. I'm going to take all of my various on-line and paper calendars and consolidate them. As soon as I get home. And have some coffee. And lunch. Oh my God, I forgot about my court hearing! I should have calendared that! Gotta run. I'll have to do the calendar<br />
later.<br />
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Next is ROUTINE! A regular weekly schedule. A good routine is key to being organized. For me, an externally imposed routine works best. Too bad. Wish I'd figured that out 40 years ago. Self-knowledge seems to be important in this process. Wish I'd figured that out 40 years ago, too. Too late now. Or not! Positivity! I don't have an external routine, so I'm on my own. So back to it! I can plan a routine. I've done it lots of times.<br />
Gotta go. I just remembered something I was supposed to do today.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-16753643014179126832013-01-14T12:02:00.005-05:002013-01-14T12:02:42.344-05:00Words Are Fun<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Moe Dowd starts our word fun today, using "distaff" as a noun for womenfolk. Following up smartly with the loaded phrase "passing strange" to describe the behavior of our semi-black president. Clever girl. Next she throws caution to the wind with Archie Bunker's old favorite, "high toned." I can't help but wonder if Rush would have gotten away with that one.<br />
Distaff, I learned, is a device used in making cloth, which as we all know is women's work. <i>See Norma Jean</i>. It has also been used as an adjective to describe something as feminine. Up til now. Maureen has nominalized distaff as her very own esoteric reference to women. Good for her!<br />
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Passing strange is riskier territory. Moe is not talking about the rock band. Passing strange refers to folks, usually African-Americans, who "pass" as a race different than the one assigned to them by their state. Maureen uses it differently, or metaphorically, to point out the difference between Obama's election base of women, blacks, and Latinos and his senior appointments of white, male establishment types. I'm not sure if she thinks Obama belongs among the former group while trying to pass as a member of the latter, or the other way around. The bottom line is that she doesn't like it one bit.</div>
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BTW, Maureen capitalizes "Latino" but not "black" or "women." Why is that? Apparently this is an ongoing debate among style manuals. Now that's exciting word news!</div>
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"High toned" is next. OMG! I really cannot believe that she used it. Does she think it helps her liberal and feminist cause? If so, I expect she is wrong. Of course, high toned indicates moral superiority, or at least a tone of moral superiority, or something that's just classy as hell. </div>
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But, and this is a big but, it is a loaded term in reference to African-Americans, referring either to black people with light skin color, or slaves who accepted their masters' values and were dutifully loyal. Or just black folks who are classy as hell.</div>
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Just for good measure, Dowd also tosses in "kerfuffle" and "oldfangled."</div>
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On the serious side of the page we find gloomy Paul Krugman explaining why the world can't get out of the recession. Blah blah blah. He ascribes our political leaders' stupendous incompetence to a "dismal orthodoxy." Hah! As you all know, economics is known as the dismal science. Love it!</div>
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Good old naive Paul Krugman. He still believes that if politicians knew the right answer they would act accordingly. He just cannot accept that they simply don't care.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-16723370747122870282012-12-29T22:51:00.000-05:002012-12-29T22:54:44.891-05:00Coming Back to BloggingThis is a warm-up post after being away. Please lower your expectations, if possible.<br />
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My new favorite tv show is The Neighbors. </div>
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I like Toks Olagundoye. </div>
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My second favorite tv show is The Mentalist.</div>
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We like Cho.</div>
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I fear I watch too much tv.</div>
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I am feeling my age. Especially first thing in the morning.</div>
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Christmas has not cheered me up as much as I had hoped. I think this is because I did not go to church. It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit without going to church.</div>
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I liked that Episcopal church we used to go to in St. Augustine that served Mimosas outside after the service. Why can't more churches be like that?</div>
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Now I want a Mimosa.</div>
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Now I wish I was at church. In St. Augustine. By the beach. With a Mimosa.</div>
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I just heard we have a new baby boy in the family - Drew Snyder. So something awesome happened today. I can't wait for the christening. I'll bring the Mimosas.</div>
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Til next time . . .</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-46303548535239462572012-05-07T12:25:00.000-04:002012-05-07T12:32:48.556-04:00Catholics Not Blind to Wanking Frenzy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <i>What would Ann
Landers say?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “Masturbation
is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action. The deliberate use of the
sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially
contrary to its purpose.” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i>Catechism</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">, 2352</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The
traditional Catholic doctrine that masturbation constitutes a grave moral
disorder is often called into doubt or expressly denied today. It is said that
psychology and sociology show that it is a normal phenomenon of sexual development,
especially among the young. It is stated that there is real and serious fault
only in the measure that the subject deliberately indulges in solitary pleasure
closed in on self (‘ipsation’), because in this case the act would be radically
opposed to the loving communion between persons of different sex which some
hold is what is principally sought in the use of sexual faculty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">"This
opinion is contradictory to the teaching and pastoral practice of the Catholic
Church. Whatever the force or certain arguments of a biological and
philosophical nature, which have sometimes been used by theologians, in fact
both the Magisterium of the Church—in the course of a constant tradition—and
the moral sense of the faithful have declared without hesitation that masturbation
is and intrinsically and seriously disordered act. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The
main reason is that, whatever the motive for acting in this way, the deliberate
use of the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal relations essentially
contradicts the finality of the faculty. For it lacks the sexual relationship
called for by the moral order, namely the relationship which realizes ‘the full
sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love.’
All deliberate exercise of sexuality must be reserved to this regular
relationship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Even if it cannot be
proved that Scripture condemns this sin by name</span></u></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">, the tradition of the Church has rightly
understood it to be condemned in the New Testament when the latter speaks of
‘impurity,’ ‘unchasteness’ and other vices contrary to chastity and
continence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">"In
the pastoral ministry, in order to form an adequate judgment in concrete cases,
the habitual behavior of people will be considered in its totality, not only
with regard to the individual’s practice of charity and of justice but also
with regard to the individual’s care in observing the particular precepts of
chastity. In particular, one will have to examine whether the individual is
using the necessary means, both natural and supernatural, which Christian
asceticism from its long experience recommends for overcoming the passions and
progressing in virtue.” Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, <i>Declaration on Sexual Ethics </i>(1976), 9-10.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-68328783309944061412012-05-07T12:03:00.001-04:002012-05-07T12:31:15.347-04:00Over-Milligraming<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In Case You Were Wondering:</span></u><br />
<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">"Over-</span>Milligraming" Defined</u></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Chipper Jones
seems to have coined a new word, or phrase, "over-milligraming."
Senior leaguer Chipper used a derivative of an old '70's term referencing
better baseball through chemistry, to more or less imply that his nemesis du
jour, Even Older Man Jamie Moyer, had enhanced his performance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> "In the
1970’s players would joke that they were being “out milligramed” rather than
beaten." (From <b><i>Steroids in Baseball,</i> </b>by<b> </b>James Whelan and
Jacob Lewis, Glenview Park Secondary School, Mr.
Richmire, MDM4UI, December 10<sup>th</sup>, 2010
- Hypothesis: The league leading batting and pitching stats will
decrease around the time of the drug test implementation in 2006.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-58229049688558294222012-03-04T19:50:00.000-05:002012-03-04T19:50:56.525-05:00Our Civil SocietyEffective immediately 2040worldview is boycotting Rush Limbaugh.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT7qrtghdCwnMSLt0T9oNfHZu-aBay-DXtJG39MrNeFO7u8h2gFxKOl65USzJk3QIRCD1i6O5-9r4ziHUK5hpdBpcD1xhDY6_ksQixsVBPEb5F4qX9L8rHaKAAzxyfHFM2FbLBGTTnBnQ/s1600/rushband.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT7qrtghdCwnMSLt0T9oNfHZu-aBay-DXtJG39MrNeFO7u8h2gFxKOl65USzJk3QIRCD1i6O5-9r4ziHUK5hpdBpcD1xhDY6_ksQixsVBPEb5F4qX9L8rHaKAAzxyfHFM2FbLBGTTnBnQ/s1600/rushband.jpg" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-80996962492780331252012-02-29T10:08:00.000-05:002012-02-29T10:08:36.677-05:00Brainy Chick of the Week - Soraya Chemaly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3IRXb6JmXQNUi6msvsxwCAf-g7rTdXSuqeH9ai4lFYhuvddwoU6LV4PGVjL6d9om3Z-B-KXhC6HhR3mUvavmD_NCxU-IwaKQjCJ5W3bjc2_aUkCDKyNcYVLk0alRC_YsnU6p_Z4E5sU/s1600/SorayaChemalybw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3IRXb6JmXQNUi6msvsxwCAf-g7rTdXSuqeH9ai4lFYhuvddwoU6LV4PGVjL6d9om3Z-B-KXhC6HhR3mUvavmD_NCxU-IwaKQjCJ5W3bjc2_aUkCDKyNcYVLk0alRC_YsnU6p_Z4E5sU/s320/SorayaChemalybw.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Soraya</i></div>Right. I don't know how to pronounce her name either. And I'm doubtful that it really means<br />
"see you, enjoy the Mexican food" in Japanese. I know almost nothing about her, but apparently she's some sort of bra-burning pope-hater. Risky business, <a href="http://www.thestoning.com/" target="_blank">standing up to religious authorities</a>.<br />
This pick it based entirely on her article about women and the catholic church, copied below, which I found to be FANTASTIC. Her entire article is pasted below, because my faith in the Huffington Post archive is strained, but my faith in the fair use doctrine is alive and well. Faith! Gotta have it. Also a dictionary. Because she used a bunch of big words.<br />
<br />
<div class="blog_content blog_design_a" id="entry_body" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 13px/20px Georgia, Century, Times, serif; line-height: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0088c3; font-family: Arial;"><b>Here it is:</b></span><div class="entry_body_text" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">There are so many perspectives on the Obama/Catholic Church contraception debate that it is hard to keep track. But, after you've stripped it all of its partisanship, wonky indignation and misleading religious angst, what you are left with it whether or not you really think women are equal and how much that equality means to you personally.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">At its core, this debate is about control. And not just birth control. Either you are willing to support and participate in a culture in which men, refusing to accept women as fully human, use a perverted claim of divine right to control women and their bodies, or you don't. For me, equality -- for everyone -- and the way I want my children to understand their place in the world outweighed my commitment to a faith, which, no matter how much real good it does in the world, does more harm by its failure to recognize the fundamental humanity of its female adherents. This isn't about freedom of religion; it's about freedom from religion.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2011/04/13/index.html" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #0088c3; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">According to the Guttmacher Institute</a>, in a now much quoted study <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/the-claim-that-98-percent-of-catholic-women-use-contraception-a-media-foul/2012/02/16/gIQAkPeqIR_blog.html?wprss=fact-checker" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #0088c3; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">analyzed</a> in the <em style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-style: italic !important; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Washington Post</em>, "Data shows that 98 percent of sexually experienced women of child-bearing age who identify themselves as Catholic have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning." Catholics are also more likely than non-Catholics to support Obama's insurance provisions, even prior to any accommodations. There are organization like <a href="http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #0088c3; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Catholics for Choice</a> who are clearly committed to Catholicism, but in defiance of bishops.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Catholic lay people, modern members of a pluralistic democracy, are <a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/02/16/catholic-laity-fed-up-with-u-s-bishops-view-of-birth-control/" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #0088c3; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">not adhering to the beliefs of their church fathers, who continue to tell them that using birth control is a sin</a>. Survey after survey shows that they believe that contraception (and other progressive social issues) is a matter of individual and private choice. Catholic women and men understand the conflict between the primacy of conscience and obedience to Church authority -- and are choosing their consciences. In the <a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/02/16/catholic-laity-fed-up-with-u-s-bishops-view-of-birth-control/" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #0088c3; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">words</a> of one Catholic woman, "I will start paying more attention to the bishops' position on birth control on the day a Catholic bishop becomes pregnant."</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">When I was a student at Georgetown University, a Catholic (albeit Jesuit) school, it was <em style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-style: italic !important; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">impossible</strong></em> to get birth control. Except that it <strong style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-style: italic !important; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">wasn't</em></strong>. Any girl or woman who needed it could walk into the life-saving midwifery office on campus, talk to a practitioner and secure her contraceptive of choice. We were just not supposed to talk about it and were expected to quietly skulk about, so as not to jeopardize the efforts of the only people on campus, who happened to be Catholic women as well, who understood our need.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Personally, I have never been interested in skulking. So, I went home to my Catholic mother and told her I needed birth control. She took me to her doctor, but not before asking me not to ever again put her in a position where she had to lie to my father. I never lied to my father (much to his dismay no doubt) and didn't expect her to, but she, like many women in her position, was ill-equipped to deal with that dilemma. She asked me not to tell him. He was happy, I am sure, that I waited until getting married to have children, however. Hear no contraceptive evil, speak no contraceptive evil, see no contraceptive evil.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This happened during a time when I was deeply immersed in studying the church, its history, theology and bioethics. And, herein lies the true problem: When you educate people, they start believing what you teach them about the importance of equality, empathy, freedom and truth. Liberal Catholics, feminist nuns and the faithful LGTB work hard to change the institution, stay true to their church and value it for all of the good that it does. Indeed, there are congregations led by married ex-Episcopal priests. There are Catholic communities who support excommunicated Catholic priestesses. For me, it was not tenable to do these things and stay Catholic -- it gives too much power to men who ultimately do grave and deep harm to the very people they claim to be helping.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But, the ability to walk away is a real and tangible privilege. I could seek spiritual and material options. I had an understanding-if-startled family, was educated, could support myself, was healthy, had no children. I was reliant on the church for nothing. That is not the case for many, including non-Catholics, who are closely tied to the church through culture, conscience, faith, marriage, need or employment.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Religious institutions are subject to secular law all the time in this country. Polygamy, practiced by some Mormons and Muslims, is a case in point. If Catholic bishops were genuinely panicking about a War on Religion, then they would have to start with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. These two alone constitute a virtual encyclopedia of <a href="http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/02/14/top-ten-catholic-teachings-santorum-rejects-while-obsessing-about-birth-control" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #0088c3; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Catholic error </a>and "immorality" in their cherry-picked personal and political practices. What about war? What about government programs for the "food stamp" recipients? I actually laugh out loud every time one of these men says the words "entitlement programs." It would be humourous, if it weren't so bizarre.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This galvanization of bishops is nothing new where women are concerned. That's because the Catholic hierarchy, men for whom reproduction is as alien as menstruation -- another fully human process they have no part in, <strong style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-style: italic !important; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><u style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">really</u></em></strong> believes that women's bodies are the living manifestation of their inferiority and the way in which God choses to punish them for their original sin. This is not unique to Catholicism and this post is not an indictment of the faith -- just to its leadership's insistence on misogynistic interpretations of how that faith is to be manifested. I could say the exact same thing of any of the Abrahamic faiths in their conservative orthodoxy.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is hard to describe exactly how cognitively disjunctive being Catholic and female can be. In the first place, you are expected to accept your female second-class status, an all male priesthood and complementarianism, as good for you. Second, you are supposed to pretend that that gendered hierarchy has no influence or implicatons for life outside of the church, which of course it does. Third, any in-depth study of Church doctrine reveals the degree to which biblical hermeneutics and theologies codifying attitudes of virulently anti-female Church Fathers continue to inform the Church now. In this way, even if priests know not to quote St. John Chrysostom or St. Jerome in Sunday masses, women are still an "inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation ... a fault in nature," "the root of all evil," who, according to St. Clement of Alexandria, "should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman." I'm not going to even quote Origen, Tertullian or Aquinas. These men lived during various dark ages, but they could just as easily be shacking up in the Vatican today. Very little has changed since in that sense, and virtually nothing since 1975, when Mary Jo Weaver wrote, "<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=RbrwyimrNgoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=New+Catholic+Women&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LAU8T93RKKX20gGrkuWUCw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=New%20Catholic%20Women&f=false" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #0088c3; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">New Catholic Women</a>," about Catholic women "defecting in place." <br style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; display: block; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; display: block; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />Messages, both subtle and blunt, about the subordinate nature and role of girls and women are enshrined in an all-male clerical hierarchy and conveyed to children in schools and churches. What do girls (and boys about them) learn about about their abilities, their roles, their spiritual characters, their inherently weaker souls, their tempting sexuality, their handmaiden-ness? Girls and boys know that dangly bits, compared to compassion, honesty, divinity and humanity, can't be that important. Until we teach them that they are. What are the effects on girls and boys when they see that women are considered not fit or allowed to mediate sacraments? Some believe they can offset these messages through their own example. Kids might indeed do what you do and not what you say, but I think it teaches them that girls are "equal enough," should be obedient and should stop asking for more. It also teaches them to operate in personal ways that keep women's decisions "private" and not political and public. Enough with the adapting, peace-keeping, silent majority.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The 1976 Pontifical Biblical Commission, composed of ordained biblical scholars, found no scriptural justification for banning women from the priesthood. But churches that systematically strip the feminine from the divine have little interest in welcoming serious feminist theological scholarship and exegesis regarding Marian devotions, women religious figures or the authority of Christ. They'd rather fetishize early Christian doctrine formulated by men, obsessed by dualism, who hated women and despised their own sexuality. It goes without saying, even though I'm about to say it, that the church hierarchy's misogyny is the foundation of its homophobia and that its fixation on a twisted, fourth century understanding of sexuality is the root of its abuse of children. Somehow, I am supposed to ignore the horrific aspects of church history, doctrine and theology while simultaneously revering its traditions and submitting to a deeply corrupted authority. <em style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-style: italic !important; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Damn</em> that Enlightenment.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But seriously, how obviously violent do things have to get before we learn the lesson that powerful, all-male environments with perverted notions of sex, sexuality and gender have damaging and corrosive effects on the whole society? I have no doubt that the same could be true if the genders were reversed, but that's not the world we live in.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For me, it's simple. Why on earth would I continue to pay any attention to men -- and they are all men, even when they have conservative lay women fighting their battles -- who expect me to not only believe wrong, perverted, ideas about me, my gender and sexuality, but also ask me to transmit that information to my children? To stick with the pre-modern theme at hand, I'd sooner flay myself.</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is entirely possible to worship in environments that do not either actively or tacitly marginalize, subjugate and demonize you. I have close and dear friends and family who do not feel the same way as I do and continue to work within and around the parameters set by the church. I respect their decision to do that. For them, the issue is of equality before God and on Earth, is negotiable. For me, it isn't. You?</div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div class="clear full" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; clear: both; font-size: 1px; height: 8px; line-height: 1px !important; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </div><div style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Follow Soraya Chemaly on Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/schemaly" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #0088c3; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">www.twitter.com/schemaly</a></b></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-46961320580794887882012-02-26T10:34:00.000-05:002012-02-26T10:34:19.565-05:00Quick Movie Review - HUGO<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">Thumbs Up. But not way up.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-hN0wsfjtMc3T59bwImobsSJjYtqdSbqn0sZuS2IMIiuox1cnVYOorrVGwviaa-UE38ZLopDMN6BPRPQhwrGEv6YKRA24izwMn7xNJcfpBJKDCuZpUTeGkd6A41md356UxFGYN12mx8/s1600/Hugo+Cabret+French+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-hN0wsfjtMc3T59bwImobsSJjYtqdSbqn0sZuS2IMIiuox1cnVYOorrVGwviaa-UE38ZLopDMN6BPRPQhwrGEv6YKRA24izwMn7xNJcfpBJKDCuZpUTeGkd6A41md356UxFGYN12mx8/s320/Hugo+Cabret+French+Poster.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
HUGO is a slow moving film that is more interesting than compelling. Mainly it is a beautiful movie. The 3-D is the best I've ever seen. The sets are beautiful. And of course Paris is beautiful. Hugo is worth the price of admission just to enjoy its visual pleasures.<br />
Ironically, or not, Hugo maintains this beauty without beautiful actors. OK, Jude Law and Emily Mortimer are in it. But the rest of the characters look like real people, though admittedly a bit more polished up. But we are not looking at Baywatch girls and soap opera boys. This is a plus.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25GcgxwqfZunB1_ndMQuA9duIKTwwIXjbOURAPT9Yok5hI74BXAMSnY1Ggls8E5wsaS0djOUOWUrXTqrRG0kqzLfXZSrfcY9hmnu3RPiw6xIhxhm21RCzlZMU2dAnAWUfdciGrnFTxGA/s1600/2011_hugo_045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25GcgxwqfZunB1_ndMQuA9duIKTwwIXjbOURAPT9Yok5hI74BXAMSnY1Ggls8E5wsaS0djOUOWUrXTqrRG0kqzLfXZSrfcY9hmnu3RPiw6xIhxhm21RCzlZMU2dAnAWUfdciGrnFTxGA/s320/2011_hugo_045.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Richard Griffiths courting Frances de la Tour</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>An old dog using the new dog trick.</i></div>Hugo the protagonist is a boy with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LloIp0HMJjc" target="_blank">99 problems</a>. He's an orphan living in a train station. He steals his food & drink and is known among the station vendors as a thief. And Borat is a security guard who wants to catch him and send him to the orphanage.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW55Ln8iLmn596sGHFuIaZ18xua2u4bE6m8kBURH83uw7mmSLlDMBdCPP655ZqMgmFKMpn-COmF3nQlgFjEUVAK3-HbcC4MlgHL1CbwNC2P8NG03EY9qm4bTc1SluwGbpH1tjNKOhl0JM/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW55Ln8iLmn596sGHFuIaZ18xua2u4bE6m8kBURH83uw7mmSLlDMBdCPP655ZqMgmFKMpn-COmF3nQlgFjEUVAK3-HbcC4MlgHL1CbwNC2P8NG03EY9qm4bTc1SluwGbpH1tjNKOhl0JM/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>Little Hugo's problems are only one of several story lines going at once, which is fine in and of itself. But the film never seems to decide what is important and what story it wants to tell us. <br />
Hugo is a young boy. My own boys (real ones) are 8 and 12 and we had a discussion about how old Hugo is. We think he is 10 to 12. I think 12. As a Dad the story of Hugo growing up is one of the most interesting stories within this film. This is highlighted by his friendship with a girl, who appears to just a bit older than he. Their friendship starts with the ease of small children finding a new playmate. But as it goes along we see hints of the growing up that is just around the corner. The brief holding of hands and a kiss on the cheek. One moment they seem like babies and the next they are growing up. Just like real kids. It is sweet. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rhIC-W67bZwtPLzZ8x93QSaydsfy_9Rrow_5CRNu5x7SAnC3eOA6kfa6MopPAj2C0q7gaxpdWcLhbdiXLCNFmGGmMF9-w6klKp_04JRJoVNtS1FN-sYGA9ucvUGbQo7PvCoBgH7XhHs/s1600/Hugo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rhIC-W67bZwtPLzZ8x93QSaydsfy_9Rrow_5CRNu5x7SAnC3eOA6kfa6MopPAj2C0q7gaxpdWcLhbdiXLCNFmGGmMF9-w6klKp_04JRJoVNtS1FN-sYGA9ucvUGbQo7PvCoBgH7XhHs/s320/Hugo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Hugo is really all about movies.</i></div>These kids are like the "smelly" fresh flowers that Emily Mortimer brings into the station every day that brighten up a downtrodden post war and depression era France.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtagvfH3k6pRClj0qM2LoGXOuNMzI8ODR6hRcSssEmboTNqywLHJ_CRviSGtz0mJ_veAhiakoQ6VJts4MDf83DlxbrVtsgskDBsbv3aQ2ot5zWvLnZ08aXFggNGXea5-fW8pQigFOuWw/s1600/Unknown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtagvfH3k6pRClj0qM2LoGXOuNMzI8ODR6hRcSssEmboTNqywLHJ_CRviSGtz0mJ_veAhiakoQ6VJts4MDf83DlxbrVtsgskDBsbv3aQ2ot5zWvLnZ08aXFggNGXea5-fW8pQigFOuWw/s1600/Unknown.jpg" /></a></div>My sons got a big kick out of noticing that all of the French characters in Hugo have British accents.<br />
The consensus main plot line is that Hugo has an automaton that he and his father were fixing. The Dad, Jude Law, dies in a fire. So the real story is that Hugo is a lost orphan and what will happen to him? The automaton is a key (as is it's key), which we know going into the theatre from the previews and ads. But this is cheating the movie experience. The automaton is a great multi-purpose metaphor, but is not central to the story. Someone got infatuated with it and let it become too important. <br />
What is important and more interesting is the story of why Ghandi is a grumpy toy store keeper at the <a href="http://danger-ahead.railfan.net/accidents/paris_1895.html" target="_blank">Gare Montparnasse</a>. But we don't realize this until well into the second half of the film. His story is tied into the story of the losses suffered by France and Europe in World War 1 and this could help explain his unexamined need to help Hugo. Perhaps leaving it unexplained is to leave us with fodder for conversation. Or maybe we just need to read the book.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-BpA3_J2_Js6Z9Mj0bcwMuOR4r1pHBXjDtJFNcCM5pTFH2-fa4P8mbId8r4C0lb6dCcDFLF6figpIcDismR4pnolqzEOE86Q1hEILcc6nURjQ7nFpqKqPoL4UrctmBAu1NZHdn-mc2A/s1600/Ben-Kingsley-Scorsese-Hug-007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-BpA3_J2_Js6Z9Mj0bcwMuOR4r1pHBXjDtJFNcCM5pTFH2-fa4P8mbId8r4C0lb6dCcDFLF6figpIcDismR4pnolqzEOE86Q1hEILcc6nURjQ7nFpqKqPoL4UrctmBAu1NZHdn-mc2A/s320/Ben-Kingsley-Scorsese-Hug-007.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Bottom line, Hugo is not an ordinary film, so enjoying its riches requires setting expectations before going in. This is a movie about movies and history and loss and healing. It really turns out to be quite uplifting. There are many gems to be discovered in the film if you are inclined to look for such trivia. So if you can set aside expectations of an adventure film wrongly promoted by the film's marketeers, and set yourself for a relaxing ride through the past, I think you will enjoy your 2 hours and 6 minutes in Paris.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-67690023173205006692012-02-24T09:24:00.002-05:002012-02-24T10:36:32.997-05:00TGIF - Heat Beat KnicksWatching Morning Joe in pj's while drinking coffee. Noticing things I think are wrong. <br />
1. Siemens ad just claimed that their clean gas turbines are powering American cities. I don't think so. If gas turbines are used for land based electrical generation in the U.S. then it's a new thing. Let me know if you know different. Odd thing to lie about.<br />
2. "Steve Rattner"is claiming that Romney's statement that private funding would be available for financing managed bankruptcies is false because nobody would make that investment. Complete nonsense. This happens all the time. It is called debtor in possession financing, and many companies specialize in this. Puzzling because Rattner knows this. He's no chooch. So I wonder if I'm wrong or if he's just blowing smoke for some reason.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdF0WRtIOQHSJSUGN66O5lMZuNvvqF-YhU3B8JRWXIlFajXVi9A4GDptQLF6pRR1Uw62FVmxoiSeD3w_22tOoqUQ9FikdBhLW3Av6TIOufG1GgxZlXz36PHyRIB4a2A0H2kvdcgzAlJU/s1600/rattner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdF0WRtIOQHSJSUGN66O5lMZuNvvqF-YhU3B8JRWXIlFajXVi9A4GDptQLF6pRR1Uw62FVmxoiSeD3w_22tOoqUQ9FikdBhLW3Av6TIOufG1GgxZlXz36PHyRIB4a2A0H2kvdcgzAlJU/s1600/rattner.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Steve Rattner</i></div>Social Policy Update:<br />
Babies! Lots and lots of Republican Catholic Babies! Ladies, start your vaginas! You (they) are being pressed back into the public domain. The <strike>Inquisition</strike> Catholic Church is back, and that means that you and your vaginas are back to the back of the procreative bus. No more on/off switch for you. You play, you pay.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh2SNlRvdpGWMQxpw7Zv64Fsl4m_VGj7u0e4xBnS_g9DQuy8V8pXWM_FLWNZi1RkpbjrIc3LPIaHJ_h5aV3u_M0fKImjU05tbtbccqwTdT2Qm-qFgeA767NUnw6hiZacf491As3N9Fe8/s1600/Catholics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh2SNlRvdpGWMQxpw7Zv64Fsl4m_VGj7u0e4xBnS_g9DQuy8V8pXWM_FLWNZi1RkpbjrIc3LPIaHJ_h5aV3u_M0fKImjU05tbtbccqwTdT2Qm-qFgeA767NUnw6hiZacf491As3N9Fe8/s320/Catholics.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Bishop Lori is a Man! Apparently.</i></div>Don't smirk, handymen. No doubt masturbation is next. Rick Santorum looks like he would know a lot about that.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYComYNVwsIuKbMAO9-oRQYedlDdZAWNsfYFdpqjm25n0S91iI29H8pdi_1-9q4quh58jY360Kv3ZTYuMTTRis_oYENB8UbL6g1K8PG-rF5GCUgCq2qyU8g3Ff2Bj9zSI242lafY6CTmE/s1600/08santorum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYComYNVwsIuKbMAO9-oRQYedlDdZAWNsfYFdpqjm25n0S91iI29H8pdi_1-9q4quh58jY360Kv3ZTYuMTTRis_oYENB8UbL6g1K8PG-rF5GCUgCq2qyU8g3Ff2Bj9zSI242lafY6CTmE/s320/08santorum.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Ladies & Gentlemen, The Next President of the United States!</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">TV ad reviews:</div><div style="text-align: left;">Good - VW's "riding dirty" - Love it!</div><div style="text-align: left;">Annoying - Anything by <i>Jos. A. Banks</i>! or BDO.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Sports:<br />
Jeremy Lin is my new favorite athlete.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsV3WZessXMgCJdOT_hwAZo-byvlgpqDrKoVl3JIzSZLLzRxTY3ClSRCItsRTo_tRfvW7KuqSyOfsH1kbCuU5vpWZsv3h2nEumXSI-J2W2pnJJ7Qt5U2sRD7SRU4ga_-iQ-HbKZpyVLlU/s1600/lin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsV3WZessXMgCJdOT_hwAZo-byvlgpqDrKoVl3JIzSZLLzRxTY3ClSRCItsRTo_tRfvW7KuqSyOfsH1kbCuU5vpWZsv3h2nEumXSI-J2W2pnJJ7Qt5U2sRD7SRU4ga_-iQ-HbKZpyVLlU/s1600/lin.jpg" /></a></div>Sports Peripherals:<br />
Natch I am closely following the Kate Upton controversy. See the new SI Swimsuit edition cover girl. Apparently the fashionistas think she's too fat. This is further evidence that fashionistas are dominated by jealous bitches and homos. Nothing wrong with them, except that they don't seem to appreciate a good ol' wholesome and sexy all-American girl with curves. After closely evaluating the issues, I am totally pro-Kate. Kate has a Niki Taylor / Cindy Crawford vibe. She makes me wish I was <strike>10</strike> <strike>20</strike> 30 years younger. Check out Kate's SI photos <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012_swimsuit/models/kate-upton/index2.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSi7_BFhryWGCAmoVO3pvarcRWHlrY0IFFFl47y7tUf6gr-gkPC6NamxkBwfKlSTDU7Kf51y8L_Oy1V8GTBK8_a1bGHNongwIsc_nbL-8uOzC3-rm-IvaFBHG5qyZtW600sBBZE4w7Vk/s1600/Kate-Upton-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSi7_BFhryWGCAmoVO3pvarcRWHlrY0IFFFl47y7tUf6gr-gkPC6NamxkBwfKlSTDU7Kf51y8L_Oy1V8GTBK8_a1bGHNongwIsc_nbL-8uOzC3-rm-IvaFBHG5qyZtW600sBBZE4w7Vk/s320/Kate-Upton-1.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Bubbles</i></div>Presidential Race - The only republican candidate who doesn't love war is Ron Paul. The only republican candidate who is a veteran is Ron Paul. It doesn't matter because whoever is nominated is going to have their ass handed to them by Barack Hussein Obama. That's because<br />
BARACK OBAMA IS THE MAN.<br />
<br />
Brainy Chick of the Week:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">ALISON FITZGERALD KODJAK - "AFK"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvYedw2xKMff1ixVEY6gm2WLjeQs8MaCQCIbOF_zi-Eh3h9Np10v3F7XFnn1Ws6A4y90DpCYwWUzGTwG4L_WrYbflF-jwzIeg21F9kjhDvECG1rXymVfwxhNAfAAAV11_h0bUPi2NLio/s1600/Alison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvYedw2xKMff1ixVEY6gm2WLjeQs8MaCQCIbOF_zi-Eh3h9Np10v3F7XFnn1Ws6A4y90DpCYwWUzGTwG4L_WrYbflF-jwzIeg21F9kjhDvECG1rXymVfwxhNAfAAAV11_h0bUPi2NLio/s1600/Alison.jpg" /></a></div>Bad Alison kicked off her blog this week after making the brave decision to leave the corporate news machine and express herself freely. You can check it out <a href="http://badalison.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
Full disclosure - Hah! Just kidding. There's no full disclosure here.<br />
Thanks for reading.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-90771359747588610102012-02-09T07:48:00.000-05:002012-02-09T07:48:57.898-05:00No Pill for the PopeWatch Morning Joe. Joe is in blowhard mode this morning, babbling about 2,000 years of Roman Catholic teaching against women's birth control. Really? The Roman Catholic Church has been teaching that woman shouldn't use the Pill contraceptive for 2,000 years? <div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceBrW8lIlQau5TCVkoiszAIhnBdCeqjZRVvzmT3g7_RFOLGVHwFvfwS69mqXLHfRY2OIHvep2pbNyd2RlkYxrQSGGZ9-zwvNmfnNzvijHzjRpskEvPvp4ilr3o5jBkihubdyDoYl3ots/s1600/Pill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceBrW8lIlQau5TCVkoiszAIhnBdCeqjZRVvzmT3g7_RFOLGVHwFvfwS69mqXLHfRY2OIHvep2pbNyd2RlkYxrQSGGZ9-zwvNmfnNzvijHzjRpskEvPvp4ilr3o5jBkihubdyDoYl3ots/s1600/Pill.jpg" /></a></div><div><div><br />
</div><div>This is what demagoguing looks like.</div><div>Of course, Joe is not an active politician, so his role here is a little curious. Perhaps he's just trying to make some noise because he doesn't like to talk about the war (in Afghanistan) and the primary elections are a yawn-fest, and of course the economy is simply depressing. So a good Culture War issue is just the type of thing for us couch potatoes to get all worked up about and stay on the channel.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQIaHIBU-GEfkoxiyyJPP80XYbpyhsV99cBjoyKaDEyN_W-z7uBQJ5PwWGkjQwT1OEKLA7DlH5tLPMyAt7yZIwB4X8VI-s0oPZ2fQivHuYrmA2JWuVxSwU7ORX3BT9-bwYwf_0DF4cQro/s1600/Mika.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQIaHIBU-GEfkoxiyyJPP80XYbpyhsV99cBjoyKaDEyN_W-z7uBQJ5PwWGkjQwT1OEKLA7DlH5tLPMyAt7yZIwB4X8VI-s0oPZ2fQivHuYrmA2JWuVxSwU7ORX3BT9-bwYwf_0DF4cQro/s320/Mika.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Mika</i></div><div>Or maybe Joe just doesn't know that the Pill only became available in 1960.</div><div>Of course, Obama and woman's groups have already lost this debate because they have allowed their opponents to frame the issue. This is not a case of the government interfering in how Roman Catholics practice their religion. Yet that is how the public discussion has been framed.</div><div>Prediction - NY Senator Kirsten Gillebrand could emerge as the voice of reason on this.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieY7xMjbWmZvJXUHKSGbwKEvjqrztTiB9JO0Hlx9C6xdJxRtDgLXNppczKPULbkdBc-EueXr-GMQZp6E6QQH7Y3jxfbCLBmAN8p3q8QiOHy0rG7v38Be9P-qsG1galG5_Ry4LEoJEZk44/s1600/Gillibrand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieY7xMjbWmZvJXUHKSGbwKEvjqrztTiB9JO0Hlx9C6xdJxRtDgLXNppczKPULbkdBc-EueXr-GMQZp6E6QQH7Y3jxfbCLBmAN8p3q8QiOHy0rG7v38Be9P-qsG1galG5_Ry4LEoJEZk44/s1600/Gillibrand.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Kirsten</i></div><div>This argument should be about religious groups role as employers, being able to impose their doctrine on their American employees. What happens when Muslims start operating schools and hospitals and nursing homes and want their women employees to have their paychecks go to their husbands? Or what happens when the Cristian Scientists want their Catholic employees to have a physician-free health plan based on prayer because that is what their church doctrine says? </div><div>Religious freedom and the first amendment are meant to free Americans from religious oppression, not empower churches to impose their doctrine on non-member Americans. </div><div>Here is Monty Python's take on this issue:</div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnAnhYtKjgo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnAnhYtKjgo</a> </div><div><br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-35432226496295766112012-02-08T00:42:00.000-05:002012-02-08T00:42:34.311-05:00Correctomundo re GoolsbeeThat was quick. Apparently my references to Mrs. Goolsbee in my prior post were off the mark. I am informed that her correct name is Robin Winters. <br />
<br />
My apologies to Ms. Winters.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjxCOEaln_CzgQF-momkPobDXRgh03uExf4GA0azdpnF22SrToQXdEhCb83p6U6Yf-ICe5iOSYCJNqs6lE3yqz6-eUkKAnXzUvkboTG2btO-BXfWOgNM3bPmKVM3L-Rx_7IXl3orNIvs/s1600/RGoolsbee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjxCOEaln_CzgQF-momkPobDXRgh03uExf4GA0azdpnF22SrToQXdEhCb83p6U6Yf-ICe5iOSYCJNqs6lE3yqz6-eUkKAnXzUvkboTG2btO-BXfWOgNM3bPmKVM3L-Rx_7IXl3orNIvs/s1600/RGoolsbee.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Ms. Winters & Dr. Goolsbee</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-55471063207500764662012-02-08T00:18:00.000-05:002012-02-08T00:18:39.357-05:00That Stupid Minimum Wage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxrAeSS3wcFxiMfJYwDo9IfQYcnFeDSltWxT1s7L6tOd_1EomrA42iUZZJQpaXEoTqINRpCWHr4sTG8LmaHFuVQinpllDls7f3QVJyLYreryIrB3dt3oCCA1jyzXrROz343V-m339RYzg/s1600/romshoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxrAeSS3wcFxiMfJYwDo9IfQYcnFeDSltWxT1s7L6tOd_1EomrA42iUZZJQpaXEoTqINRpCWHr4sTG8LmaHFuVQinpllDls7f3QVJyLYreryIrB3dt3oCCA1jyzXrROz343V-m339RYzg/s1600/romshoe.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i>Good Jobs at Market Wages</i></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><strike>King of the Gypsies </strike>Republican Presidential Candy Date Mitt <strike>Romani </strike>Romney keeps putting his foot in his mouth. Just when he seemed to have pulled it all together, we get this from (who else) Yahoo! News:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"Romney said last week that <a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Romney-supports-automatic-hikes-in-minimum-wage-2921805.php" style="text-decoration: none;">he supports regular increases in the minimum wage</a> to keep pace with inflation."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">OMG. The next time that man feels his mouth opening he just needs to put a sock in it. Who knows what crazy idea he'll come out with next, maybe to let all those</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> Mexican grandmothers stay here.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMRcn4-6LMe28i5O2z5jTljEODiJVA3UeVJ3FA0Iovqhb6UgquM99fHNuOh2hfHv0c2hFsq6uvkHBuCAWbAlO7T2PbalF7RAjTHjiKVeNATzVDJyq-8EoACzahxFreGG11vulOYn9ZZFc/s1600/Grandma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMRcn4-6LMe28i5O2z5jTljEODiJVA3UeVJ3FA0Iovqhb6UgquM99fHNuOh2hfHv0c2hFsq6uvkHBuCAWbAlO7T2PbalF7RAjTHjiKVeNATzVDJyq-8EoACzahxFreGG11vulOYn9ZZFc/s320/Grandma.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i><a href="http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-7926-gone-baby-gone.html" target="_blank">Grandma</a></i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Having a minimum wage is very controversial. As Yahoo! News reports, "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Some experts argue that raising the wage costs jobs, but others disagree." Natch Yahoo doesn't quote any actual experts, but lots of politicians were willing to fill the gap.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> Especially our </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Republican friends, who were quick to set Mitt straight.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivIo5OXa3-K5dltyFR6-rv4cH65j2g2ki260pWRaNUNHBgeFE0V9mHB-O_C83ZNFV5_LGEp0VEjLuDAhrqC-CJ5B7i55w42PZVCdKcwMw1mSx4jky1ifc5Cnep4LWvVmP30L8p1WyjlVc/s1600/jim-demint-mitt-romney1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivIo5OXa3-K5dltyFR6-rv4cH65j2g2ki260pWRaNUNHBgeFE0V9mHB-O_C83ZNFV5_LGEp0VEjLuDAhrqC-CJ5B7i55w42PZVCdKcwMw1mSx4jky1ifc5Cnep4LWvVmP30L8p1WyjlVc/s320/jim-demint-mitt-romney1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i>South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint</i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"Senator DeMint opposes the minimum wage because it hurts the poor and destroys desperately needed jobs," DeMint's spokesman, Wesley Denton, told Yahoo News. "Wage mandates prevent people from getting jobs and the skills they need to climb the economic ladder."</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcc9sYLTHXgo1SUGXPnZk2bVlW8w5qfV9xBE9guKGAc6pBPe3RyTTk1FR79-NYwiJjCc5K0F5b4yEPXfjIs5HJW3WgMJwtp2CJ8MUCucbv-PJIouPquRLAyhfXoFgX5x4VaeBIQ1rxB4/s1600/Bachmann.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcc9sYLTHXgo1SUGXPnZk2bVlW8w5qfV9xBE9guKGAc6pBPe3RyTTk1FR79-NYwiJjCc5K0F5b4yEPXfjIs5HJW3WgMJwtp2CJ8MUCucbv-PJIouPquRLAyhfXoFgX5x4VaeBIQ1rxB4/s1600/Bachmann.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i>How much?</i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Michele Bachmann, who quit the presidential race last month,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43608810/ns/business-us_business/t/ending-minimum-wage-likely-wouldnt-dent-jobless-rate/" style="color: #005790; text-decoration: none;">has said that scrapping the minimum wage</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">could "potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely, because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Well, of course. The thing to remember, and please keep this in mind, is that the problem for people who are unemployed is not that they don't have a job, it's that they don't have any money. MONEY. So giving them a job that doesn't pay enough money isn't going to help unemployed workers. It's not.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Why don't all these Republicans get this? They seem smart enough. What's the problem?</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy7L5ZpGH3NBU9U-r17mpggX2Lasiew-hYCBP_qhJz7MoQeT7B_96xxcUV7mfox4CiPHKF5gFgEdAGGHiJZVzwHOxoN8kvUjjg0NMF0wwlaIUFsuf4KwTFuprt37g2lJCyaH5LBV1gK-k/s1600/republicanlies_thumb1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy7L5ZpGH3NBU9U-r17mpggX2Lasiew-hYCBP_qhJz7MoQeT7B_96xxcUV7mfox4CiPHKF5gFgEdAGGHiJZVzwHOxoN8kvUjjg0NMF0wwlaIUFsuf4KwTFuprt37g2lJCyaH5LBV1gK-k/s1600/republicanlies_thumb1.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">There is no problem. They are simply lying. We should all know this by now. The press goes along for the ride because it's easier to write or talk about a fake issue like whether or not the minimum wage helps workers than to have to do actual research and analysis, not to mention put your access and credentials at risk, and report on what is really happening. What's that? Well, let's ask ourselves who would benefit from tanking the minimum wage. How about employers? How about investors who invest in employers? McDonalds spends a lot on minimum wages. If they could whack a third of that off the P&L, the C-suite would probably get to pay themselves a nice round of bonuses for a job well done. Remember, a corporation's duty is to its shareholders, not its employees. And of course, all of that wealth will trickle down to the rest of America. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Just more slowly.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">So, where are the Democrats on this issue? Can't they round up someone with a few brains who can squash this nonsense? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">What ever happened to Obama's economic council? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Personally, I miss that Austan Goolsbee fellow. He was smart and funny and good at explaining this stuff. We need a new generation of honest dismal scientists like him who can make sense of things like this and blaze a path forward that doesn't have half of the country mowing lawns for $3.00 an hour. But Austan and his smokin' hot wife Robin have gone. So where do we go now? Where is the leadership?</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOsO7L3eEaHX5CJIg9H7dfB-NQTXDbveyLQA06LvFQchaHMZPY5MPNXuiLEBWNZQwmScDbvdnVJjptUpTXp7x7YzupDNdQ-V7RtvRrRHaCOQxLo8Bx7u9kfl3CvrZ2DzaWjy1uk_SJITQ/s1600/chastain2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOsO7L3eEaHX5CJIg9H7dfB-NQTXDbveyLQA06LvFQchaHMZPY5MPNXuiLEBWNZQwmScDbvdnVJjptUpTXp7x7YzupDNdQ-V7RtvRrRHaCOQxLo8Bx7u9kfl3CvrZ2DzaWjy1uk_SJITQ/s1600/chastain2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i>Austan & Robin Goolsbee</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i>Out of Service</i></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-20834424804772454672012-02-03T12:23:00.000-05:002012-02-03T12:23:12.431-05:00Romney in Trumps Casino and His $10,000 Bet<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'DejaVu Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqElaySz6A2SZiDRxBfd4EBGrPaYuEvJGA3BuYIx0JWMR_dmC9lzzw9S1ECSAkPr3UM_L6tzeZGfkOr8XaC0B9SuGv8MIfzmdKL4zuT0aWbg13DqVZgJ7lyooUnmEhLYTR4MNG7PBIpQQ/s1600/Romney+trump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqElaySz6A2SZiDRxBfd4EBGrPaYuEvJGA3BuYIx0JWMR_dmC9lzzw9S1ECSAkPr3UM_L6tzeZGfkOr8XaC0B9SuGv8MIfzmdKL4zuT0aWbg13DqVZgJ7lyooUnmEhLYTR4MNG7PBIpQQ/s1600/Romney+trump.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h1 class="title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'DejaVu Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gambling - What Mormons Preach</h1><div class="clearfix" id="content" style="display: block;"><div class="node clearfix node-story node-full published not-promoted not-sticky without-photo " id="node-1" style="clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1em; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="content clearfix" style="clear: both; display: block; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 1em;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gambling is found everywhere in society; poker, horse and dog races, at the grocery store, slot machines, and even in the home. Gambling is a game of chance that takes without giving value in return. <a href="http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/doctrines/gambling_eom.htm" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gambling</a> puts money or other things of value into a pool and then redistributes it on the basis of a roll of the dice, a spin of the wheel, or a drawing of a number. Nothing of value is produced in the process.'<a href="http://www.whatmormonsbelieve.org/mormons_gambling.html#_edn1" id="_ednref1" name="_ednref1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_ednref1">1</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEityNctejJvCwIlHlqvRj6gTR90J4dgpuxwLr0AxyyTpyr566HU_jIonI6ILlL_h05JGvKdiUwQ0H5bJOrRxu5D8ftVJhP5-MHuv53b47peVG0N89ss3kmL1cJZWCtCnACE5nrBEVw38nQ/s1600/Romney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEityNctejJvCwIlHlqvRj6gTR90J4dgpuxwLr0AxyyTpyr566HU_jIonI6ILlL_h05JGvKdiUwQ0H5bJOrRxu5D8ftVJhP5-MHuv53b47peVG0N89ss3kmL1cJZWCtCnACE5nrBEVw38nQ/s1600/Romney.jpg" /></a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Mormon Church has always opposed gambling in every form, including government-sponsored lotteries.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lds.about.com/od/prophetsleaders/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mormon prophets</a> and leaders have counseled the members over time, to avoid gambling of any type. Doing so, leads one away from righteousness and into the hands of Satan. The <a href="http://www.mormonolympians.org/mormon/godhead_mormonism.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mormon belief</a> is that it is an addictive behavior and leads only to destructive habits and practices. It undermines the value of work and motivates one to think that they can get something for nothing. In time, the gambler will deny themselves, as well as their family the basic needs of life. They will oft times steal from others to finance their addiction, which in turn leads to stealing, robbery, etc.<br />
<br />
Government-sponsored lotteries have intensified the gambling issue. The National Foundation on the Study and Treatment of Pathological Gambling says that, 'lotteries may serve to introduce gambling to those who otherwise would shun it. People who have never bet before, seeing a state-run lottery with the [imprint] of government upon it, might buy a ticket; buying the first lottery ticket might be compared to a future drug addict taking his first puff on a cigarette. It's a starting point.'<a href="http://www.whatmormonsbelieve.org/mormons_gambling.html#_edn2" id="_ednref2" name="_ednref2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_ednref2">2</a> </div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And in 1985, then Governor of Florida Bob Graham, stated that, 'what the lottery says about success is the wrong message…' Catholic priest, Monsignor Joseph Dunne expressed his opinion in that, 'why should [children] get an education when with a little bit of luck they can win a bundle of money for life? That's what lotteries are doing to our youth.'<a href="http://www.whatmormonsbelieve.org/mormons_gambling.html#_edn3" id="_ednref3" name="_ednref3" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_ednref3">3</a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.shiblon.com/beliefs/what-do-mormons-believe.php" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mormons do believe</a> that they shouldn't participate or encourage others to gamble. When local and federal government legislations are considering passing laws dealing with gambling, Church leadership has encouraged members to put a voice in opposing such issues. Current <a href="http://www.familyforever.com/temples/prophets/gbhinckley.htm" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mormon Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley</a> has urged the members of the<a href="http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mormon Church</a> to do the following: "We urge members of the Church to join with others with similar concerns in opposing the legalization and government sponsorship of lotteries."<a href="http://www.whatmormonsbelieve.org/mormons_gambling.html#_edn4" id="_ednref4" name="_ednref4" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_ednref4">4</a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For more information on the Mormon Church or Gambling, please see the following websites:<br />
<a href="http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/38340" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gambling</a><br />
<a href="http://www.dearelder.com/index/inc_name/Mormon/title2/What_Do_Mormons_Believe" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What do Mormons Believe</a></div><div><div id="edn1"><a href="http://www.whatmormonsbelieve.org/mormons_gambling.html#_ednref1" id="_edn1" name="_edn1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_edn1">1</a> "Ensign", LDS magazine, "Gambling – Morally Wrong and Politically Unwise", Oaks, Jan 1987</div><div id="edn2"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.whatmormonsbelieve.org/mormons_gambling.html#_ednref2" id="_edn2" name="_edn2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_edn2">2</a> "Christian Science Monitor", Custer, 1985</div></div><div id="div"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.whatmormonsbelieve.org/mormons_gambling.html#_ednref3" id="_edn3" name="_edn3" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_edn3">3</a> "Gambling and Lotteries", 1986</div></div><div id="edn4"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.whatmormonsbelieve.org/mormons_gambling.html#_ednref4" id="_edn4" name="_edn4" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #314c74; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_edn4">4</a> "Letter from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", 1986</div><div><br />
</div></div></div><div><div id="edn5"></div></div><div></div></div><div class="links" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; display: inline; float: left; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></ul></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-3978085614572871062012-01-24T00:25:00.012-05:002012-01-24T00:34:54.711-05:00Quick Movie Review - The Debt<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><strong><u>The Debt - Thumbs Down - also SPOILER ALERT</u></strong></span><br />
<br />
This is a movie about some Jews hunting a Nazi death camp doctor (Jesper Christensen.) Sounded promising, but the weird title should have been a red flag. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkFxgxS0gbtuRSiuyVT929L-9VTqg6ehklcFzVtcaF74_tmOJNYrKY_BFRbvOvmHOB2hGICkD1H0M3rUzUhH5x3Ae1893iGrtD9lfllwv3GOJh-9Jfsdho3Eve8ett-lEFuX9T_h9SXo/s1600/jesper+christensen+the-debt-movie-screenshots26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkFxgxS0gbtuRSiuyVT929L-9VTqg6ehklcFzVtcaF74_tmOJNYrKY_BFRbvOvmHOB2hGICkD1H0M3rUzUhH5x3Ae1893iGrtD9lfllwv3GOJh-9Jfsdho3Eve8ett-lEFuX9T_h9SXo/s320/jesper+christensen+the-debt-movie-screenshots26.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Jesper Christensen</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1n2TkANwPmscgN5Xkrnlg6z9kS60fiXwGHfn-_N7vaOu2dgDuvWXYy4DO66A6BDwJ4MTSTC10F12W5rM6zL_36s2YJJAKBbYn9VbC9aQbJQkoyCJZkxTOmxYCXLyGx4o6c0tGT3fYNcU/s1600/Helen+age+of+consent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1n2TkANwPmscgN5Xkrnlg6z9kS60fiXwGHfn-_N7vaOu2dgDuvWXYy4DO66A6BDwJ4MTSTC10F12W5rM6zL_36s2YJJAKBbYn9VbC9aQbJQkoyCJZkxTOmxYCXLyGx4o6c0tGT3fYNcU/s320/Helen+age+of+consent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Helen, Launching 1000 Ships</em></div><br />
Helen Mirren, who I used to think was kind of hot, looks just awful as an old lady who conspires with her spy buddies to lie about killing the old Nazi to avoid the shame of a failed mission. The lie gets out of hand, and the shame bothers them to different degrees over the years. Mostly I picked it because I'm a Helen Mirren fan.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9jjNF3W9R3r3Tcx7J4rftdqZPreMqdwij1sBXUn4jRPj_WYS44hWn3e-C20SRa-ahihvZ83uA32M2H2tSi4n5xYipL6qs8C82HuWnB2ntOkEYR_gz_wbY6rsuy-ohlWMz2S5iN2ucZ4Y/s1600/Helen+poster.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9jjNF3W9R3r3Tcx7J4rftdqZPreMqdwij1sBXUn4jRPj_WYS44hWn3e-C20SRa-ahihvZ83uA32M2H2tSi4n5xYipL6qs8C82HuWnB2ntOkEYR_gz_wbY6rsuy-ohlWMz2S5iN2ucZ4Y/s320/Helen+poster.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Helen's First Movie</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWIOaibhO7XY3Le4re4b7PNKS6q5K29AUMTuPc0za7uGtcxibn5S16HVgs1NfNzDYUX0QGqfVJDXa6nfyJBRbvujbCJxAKVO2TLrEkE0whcFKZ77luTrKpe4p5takpGvwjJgmGRm4LC4/s1600/Helen+Mirren+scarf.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWIOaibhO7XY3Le4re4b7PNKS6q5K29AUMTuPc0za7uGtcxibn5S16HVgs1NfNzDYUX0QGqfVJDXa6nfyJBRbvujbCJxAKVO2TLrEkE0whcFKZ77luTrKpe4p5takpGvwjJgmGRm4LC4/s320/Helen+Mirren+scarf.png" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Helen Back in the Day</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdaqHjZgY_UZgw8KxbDAHX1AAaDIe-NI8wMgnzq4WJGzhD2hwgnWtYZ1YhdNuXD3IeQddOApxhdUUAoSoh5jsiN9Qa1BIDV5BoxaH2KgIEV1VkpbWTPS9_8AZ9JJEuYhmKf0IsM833sY/s1600/helen-mirren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdaqHjZgY_UZgw8KxbDAHX1AAaDIe-NI8wMgnzq4WJGzhD2hwgnWtYZ1YhdNuXD3IeQddOApxhdUUAoSoh5jsiN9Qa1BIDV5BoxaH2KgIEV1VkpbWTPS9_8AZ9JJEuYhmKf0IsM833sY/s320/helen-mirren.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Helen in 2011</em></div>Here Helen sports a facial scar that ironically looks like something a German general might have. The Debt uses the same flashback format that fans of Cold Case will recognize. Helen only plays her character as an old lady. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg422r2xj_iV785qhb-SA0-sprww1Q_0LyvETKCDIktPtKgfZ2QEBbSj-8cA_nKzabJYQ27beJFHYUA6vMD2APzPMbi0IW5tezU_Wx1i6LYWMS42hl4nDWpmwICBB3OgPkBT4HzAhIO5a0/s1600/Helen+scar+imagesCAI1K685.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg422r2xj_iV785qhb-SA0-sprww1Q_0LyvETKCDIktPtKgfZ2QEBbSj-8cA_nKzabJYQ27beJFHYUA6vMD2APzPMbi0IW5tezU_Wx1i6LYWMS42hl4nDWpmwICBB3OgPkBT4HzAhIO5a0/s1600/Helen+scar+imagesCAI1K685.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Q: Who goes for the face with a knife?</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgMI1fj_USz8cme0RQFVqt5F5UQ1RGo1eUn9XhwMFs9uN7q9HUdDamzjL9dLoLuCR3ahkdpZd3jHhVc9gFETGQ8ttw0a72N2eZURQpLm9-j0AKvPqgXTlmIV8YhvU08dJbmHsz8lwsP4/s1600/GERskorzeny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgMI1fj_USz8cme0RQFVqt5F5UQ1RGo1eUn9XhwMFs9uN7q9HUdDamzjL9dLoLuCR3ahkdpZd3jHhVc9gFETGQ8ttw0a72N2eZURQpLm9-j0AKvPqgXTlmIV8YhvU08dJbmHsz8lwsP4/s1600/GERskorzeny.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Otto Skozeny, Actual Nazi</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>(Sword duelling wound)</em></div>Helen's character, Rachel, as her younger self is played by the hot chick from The Help (Jessica Chastain.) The younger characters are a MMF love triangle of Israeli spy/commandos. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfpzN8XAWwtxIql2OGh0VGeAoUGAH_8GtCBBto4CrUWPoFf0sxjsnYE-nu-mWwBFpkQqMB22r-94WCqEsfSY-1o4qivkETL79iCgqgS0OhA1g7xLBEdF8Dw5krggjQTefGBz4Yql90PCw/s1600/Jessica+11926981_gal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfpzN8XAWwtxIql2OGh0VGeAoUGAH_8GtCBBto4CrUWPoFf0sxjsnYE-nu-mWwBFpkQqMB22r-94WCqEsfSY-1o4qivkETL79iCgqgS0OhA1g7xLBEdF8Dw5krggjQTefGBz4Yql90PCw/s320/Jessica+11926981_gal.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Hot Jessica Chastain</em></div>The leader (Marton Csokas) looks like Greg Brady's much more handsome older brother, and the other guy (Sam Worthington) looks like a brooding high school athlete. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwSrioOZjnyzylIaLtdFFac_iJlOaC0mtjtTbfBcaHmVHtYFgeOxtCSmZSkxDv4DAD-pB8XsMEHkrGCye2TsZQAtSwbmRMjIRg6T-Nt5HCHfs_WoQpXmLBiSrucTetj8_HPkMHZU1hBU/s1600/the-debt7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwSrioOZjnyzylIaLtdFFac_iJlOaC0mtjtTbfBcaHmVHtYFgeOxtCSmZSkxDv4DAD-pB8XsMEHkrGCye2TsZQAtSwbmRMjIRg6T-Nt5HCHfs_WoQpXmLBiSrucTetj8_HPkMHZU1hBU/s320/the-debt7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
My wife opined that Csokas is much sexier than Worthington.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2TnuoZPj4OtJKfBuxe_8i8wPlqJq8sYztXs_YC7_U_Fi5FbTEy5JFGukoCFeNMZIRZvXd3yBmFmlJ4yc6k2yEK8c8carOYkaonN86ep38GVZ6TRr6Emu5oSs5dmCp9qRABuJ3EzIRlAs/s1600/Marton+Csokas+thedebt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2TnuoZPj4OtJKfBuxe_8i8wPlqJq8sYztXs_YC7_U_Fi5FbTEy5JFGukoCFeNMZIRZvXd3yBmFmlJ4yc6k2yEK8c8carOYkaonN86ep38GVZ6TRr6Emu5oSs5dmCp9qRABuJ3EzIRlAs/s320/Marton+Csokas+thedebt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Marton Csokas</em><br />
</div>Hot chick and brooder are in love, somehow, in a mutually unrequited sort of way. We are supposed to discern that Brooder has some special WW II emotional damage baggage he's carting around from all of the unsubtle hints that the film keeps bashing us on the head with. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNa3kHSD65lBxNniB6y51cvFlkSpd1ab3VQInvy85jWdXm1VyFaajMdrX5faZ3H0nxww13zR3bt0KfuI-xjE5rdvSuEonoi8SL2MxQCivZKtlik714CJbTyFHC1cAVzDNRyfHLlP_FlIQ/s1600/jessica-chastain_123238967736.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNa3kHSD65lBxNniB6y51cvFlkSpd1ab3VQInvy85jWdXm1VyFaajMdrX5faZ3H0nxww13zR3bt0KfuI-xjE5rdvSuEonoi8SL2MxQCivZKtlik714CJbTyFHC1cAVzDNRyfHLlP_FlIQ/s320/jessica-chastain_123238967736.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Chastain, Contemplative</em></div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itq-oFdaBJc">BMOC</a> is more emotionally tough and opportunistic, not to mention smooth, so natch he hooks up with Hot Chick when she looks vulnerable, and natch she gets "with child." Oh, Fate, you cruel, constructed master.<br />
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The old folks are not very interesting, and their motivation is so weak as to be distracting. Lots of movie cliches. So if you enjoy movies where you can figure out what will happen next, you might like this. But I doubt it. I'm not completely averse to predictable plots. But when the obvious turns are dragged out for faux suspense I start to look at my watch and wonder when the pace will pick up. Really, here the most interesting character is the Nazi doctor, but he's not worth two hours. It's too late for me but you can still save yourself. Rent one of the Bourne movies instead.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-86486672871844643182012-01-02T20:03:00.002-05:002012-01-02T20:06:58.938-05:00The Insincere Economic Debate<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In today’s NYT, Nobel prize economist Paul Krugman once again makes his plea for people to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">please please please</i> understand that the biggest economic problem facing the country is unemployment. He despairs that this is so while the government and the media and much of the population obsess over the increasing national debt of the US. Why won’t they see??? How can everybody be so blind???</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitsn0SGigr3cLp7_NegDDzjo7Ua2-HEopJ8TegB_Gio8aV3X25TbvMQW-baWcqpHzfQBYeyXroykuhqkEKIVvWLD5OA0g3-OGGDBNoTV8Qlyu-dlVdVNQnMiwFUBKc4xPpXJIiXh13yXE/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitsn0SGigr3cLp7_NegDDzjo7Ua2-HEopJ8TegB_Gio8aV3X25TbvMQW-baWcqpHzfQBYeyXroykuhqkEKIVvWLD5OA0g3-OGGDBNoTV8Qlyu-dlVdVNQnMiwFUBKc4xPpXJIiXh13yXE/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Paul misses the point. Everybody knows that the national debt is not a real problem. Everybody knows that, but not everybody cares. And many of the people who do care waste their time trying to convince people who already <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> that they are right that they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i> right. Silly. Missing the point.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The folks who don’t want the national debt enlarged are the very rich people. The people who already have a lot of money. They don’t care about unemployment because it doesn’t affect them. They believe that they are right not to care about unemployment if it does not affect them because they have an understanding that democracy works best if everyone votes for their own self-interest. Since these people don’t see that unemployment affects them negatively, they don’t see any reason to vote to pay for solutions to other peoples’ problems. They are voting for their own self-interest. And fixing unemployment ain’t it.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLc7837kU5GZlaYroWuDkJ606Skr353RMZW09rhxeH_3xlzNQHnjHIa5HkLkAM8arwzjmwqpGJdfT_w_65vjAleTrh9bvzKzlgwj0yy5MCWGA5KbC3Btcq_vIi4f0zO9D5naeRTa-HcZE/s1600/Money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLc7837kU5GZlaYroWuDkJ606Skr353RMZW09rhxeH_3xlzNQHnjHIa5HkLkAM8arwzjmwqpGJdfT_w_65vjAleTrh9bvzKzlgwj0yy5MCWGA5KbC3Btcq_vIi4f0zO9D5naeRTa-HcZE/s1600/Money.jpg" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As far as the politicians who claim that “solving” the national debt “crisis” is the way to create jobs and restore the middle class, they are just lying. Not in a bad way. It’s their job. They’ve been elected by banking, financial, and business interests to keep the Wall Street economy intact. And of course to do their job properly they need to keep getting re-elected. And since it turns out that to do that this year a certain amount of lip service needs to be paid to solving unemployment, their lips are appropriately in gear. A big part of a politician’s job is to serve the needs and whims of rich folks while keeping the regular folks feeling satisfied with less. Not all the regular folks, just about half. The rest they can bad-mouth. Rich folks control most politicians, in case you hadn’t noticed, and rich folks don’t really care if you have a job or can afford your house or medical care, as long as you work cheap for as long as they need you and then go away with no fuss when they don’t.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKAazaPd1lRpNmsbgzau4seOUOFKZ10FuYUOWOmERZEJz_y2SlF5_CjPAVlLXYs16ec57bcpA-vvCRFG9rqaKV89kxrhQ9lDjmgzUR1PRClf5vr-9eInhppNgKm9Ou7B30HbfHVcZqw8/s1600/Ben+B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>As far as the money goes, or “monetary policy” if you’re a fancy pants, if you have a lot of money then you want it to stay valuable. If Ben Bernanke continues to print more of it, then it might become less valuable. Hence we see very angry opposition to quantitative easing. Well, all of us who are not rich should thank God for Ben, because without quantitative easing we would all be scrounging for potato soup. But I digress.<o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKAazaPd1lRpNmsbgzau4seOUOFKZ10FuYUOWOmERZEJz_y2SlF5_CjPAVlLXYs16ec57bcpA-vvCRFG9rqaKV89kxrhQ9lDjmgzUR1PRClf5vr-9eInhppNgKm9Ou7B30HbfHVcZqw8/s1600/Ben+B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKAazaPd1lRpNmsbgzau4seOUOFKZ10FuYUOWOmERZEJz_y2SlF5_CjPAVlLXYs16ec57bcpA-vvCRFG9rqaKV89kxrhQ9lDjmgzUR1PRClf5vr-9eInhppNgKm9Ou7B30HbfHVcZqw8/s1600/Ben+B.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal">Paul, Mr. Krugman, please understand that this is not an honest debate. It is three-card monte. It is smoke and mirrors. It is snake oil. The real debate is how to stop these elected con men from fooling our fellow citizens with their laundry list of red herrings and bogey men. National debt, Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, homosexuals, abortionists, people who say “Happy Holidays,” unions, public school teachers, “illegal” Mexicans, and of course Barack Obama.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s not a contest of ideas. It's beer and circus. It’s class warfare by maneuver.<o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-86186851758958237332011-09-03T12:25:00.000-04:002011-09-03T12:25:57.430-04:00Saving Ourselves<div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"><u><strong>How to Save the American Economy </strong></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"><u><strong>by Saving the Middle Class Consumer</strong></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPn6W9bAG_v35wCe5RWtEppWwex6RbMS2fkzH65wAXtMHza2R1uLGHH3whe8GuZKTw27zAezdegv4cMvYuGQTjqAUj6AxaOWKO6-46-P_YqKTRxukvYT1jHvVV6RlP1MJBhHp9oRykzM/s1600/Bills.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPn6W9bAG_v35wCe5RWtEppWwex6RbMS2fkzH65wAXtMHza2R1uLGHH3whe8GuZKTw27zAezdegv4cMvYuGQTjqAUj6AxaOWKO6-46-P_YqKTRxukvYT1jHvVV6RlP1MJBhHp9oRykzM/s1600/Bills.png" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Americans owe about 2.5 Trillion Dollars in non-mortgage consumer debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a lot of money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It breaks out to about $8,300 per person, with 1/3 for credit card debt, and 2/3 for non-revolving debt such as auto loans and student loans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the average American family at 3.15 people, that works out to an average of $26,000 per family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However keep in mind that consumer debt tends to be weighted toward families with children living at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The average American household income is right around $50,000, so we see an average consumer debt burden of slightly over half of the gross household income. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Toss in taxes, household bills, gas, and the rent or mortgage payment, and you have the average American household living paycheck to paycheck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the average.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means that a lot of American families aren’t making it into the black every month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what is known as an unsustainable situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is why over a million Americans file bankruptcy every year.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Nf1o0_B4lIlbGE3pkWF66WafDr-n8lhZKJLP2-YaRY2ODQ_QS0OJYh0APwCQYpeV39y9HkVElrokJDn71AXHCWqtiU1uVCUkv2_dWmQOUrvF78XBCR7L57CnlhkNuAaBg5dHXfvlaSo/s1600/Foreclosure+afb4ec_Coyne_12242009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Nf1o0_B4lIlbGE3pkWF66WafDr-n8lhZKJLP2-YaRY2ODQ_QS0OJYh0APwCQYpeV39y9HkVElrokJDn71AXHCWqtiU1uVCUkv2_dWmQOUrvF78XBCR7L57CnlhkNuAaBg5dHXfvlaSo/s1600/Foreclosure+afb4ec_Coyne_12242009.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>An American losing his home.</em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In America we have a consumer based economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means most of us make our money when our fellow countrymen are buying stuff from each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consumers are the root and heart of our economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As more and more of us have less to spend, we stop buying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key to understanding the economy is to understand that it’s all about money moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Money is like blood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the money sits still, the economy stops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the money is moving the economy is better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Money doesn’t disappear, it just moves or sits still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to keep the money moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Circulating, if you will.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbPhjWsRvtYADqu2WgZlECYW3Ok8y9HLfqo_TOUJxLZx9MbaJkM__LOeLQwq9Jx-8VH_xTmXMjR2bA9n5Ocv4TjKqkODHQqdgsJbyEdDsEN4pbJCENBmPgqACFInSLPx5TUrfTQHvLr7I/s1600/Bankruptcy+guage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbPhjWsRvtYADqu2WgZlECYW3Ok8y9HLfqo_TOUJxLZx9MbaJkM__LOeLQwq9Jx-8VH_xTmXMjR2bA9n5Ocv4TjKqkODHQqdgsJbyEdDsEN4pbJCENBmPgqACFInSLPx5TUrfTQHvLr7I/s1600/Bankruptcy+guage.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In today’s America, we as consumers are the ones who move most of the money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are the heart of the economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we stop buying houses and new cars and flat screen tv’s and vacations to tourist destinations then the money doesn’t move to those industries and they shrink or go out of business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we consumers are squeezed even tighter then we cancel our cable tv and turn down the heat and air conditioning and stop paying our Visa and MasterCard bills and use up our savings accounts to buy groceries then the banks and utilities start to lose money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what has been happening for the last three years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So we have The Great Recession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because consumers are over-extended and cannot find enough well paying work to cover their current expenses and make additional purchases of new products.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All this talk about the banks failing and derivatives and CDO’s and securitizations and AIG and Goldman Sachs and the government debt is missing the point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are stems and leaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Results, not causes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Symptoms, not the disease. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of our current financial problems are rooted in the American consumers’ inability to pay their bills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To fix the economy, to get out of The Great Recession, we need to fix the American consumer.</span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVkatD5jZAUKQjdyPkRSmy2TkMZSkSuQNKJuu2hAMrOoL6ROkZ65cPvn_eNW87lLt9jp-DWqiaicaMgTK4ar34a6d6WC2ah93D5wp4lsgPOqXdg15fezfUkJT0phnK9HIx57BVxKdE2k/s1600/Barney+Frank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVkatD5jZAUKQjdyPkRSmy2TkMZSkSuQNKJuu2hAMrOoL6ROkZ65cPvn_eNW87lLt9jp-DWqiaicaMgTK4ar34a6d6WC2ah93D5wp4lsgPOqXdg15fezfUkJT0phnK9HIx57BVxKdE2k/s1600/Barney+Frank.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Why indeed, Barney?</em></span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When American consumers can pay their bills, then delinquencies and defaults on credit cards, loans, and mortgages will plummet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fewer people will file bankruptcy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These defaulting consumers are the basis for the problems with Mortgage Backed Securities and Asset Backed Securities and Collateralized Debt Obligations and other derivatives that everyone is afraid or unwilling to value as the skeletons in the “too big to fail” banks’ closets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They all ultimately rest on simple consumer debt, which in turn rests on the shoulders of American consumers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Real people.</span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When American consumers can pay their bills, they will be paying more taxes, which will help the federal budget and national debt.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When American consumers can pay their bills, they will be willing and able to buy new things, like cars and tv’s and houses, that will start the economic cycle of money swirling around again.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When American consumers can pay their bills, bankruptcies and foreclosures will go down dramatically, along with the attendant trauma to American families, marriages, communities, and children.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rmcXbLQKqw8mFrBvrtmFJet9g6wEmxDico72UturYHwuUM6F-ibrGU5omUcflM6yE2TL6EGKicAU_cwSw0CELC_KWC2QZ3riOy9K03fp6qgTZG2KXetX3qSHJ7E3M2foJZL_ASukBvo/s1600/Foreclosure+carying-items_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rmcXbLQKqw8mFrBvrtmFJet9g6wEmxDico72UturYHwuUM6F-ibrGU5omUcflM6yE2TL6EGKicAU_cwSw0CELC_KWC2QZ3riOy9K03fp6qgTZG2KXetX3qSHJ7E3M2foJZL_ASukBvo/s320/Foreclosure+carying-items_0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Foreclosure - What is it good for?</em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The real answer to our economic problems then seems pretty obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to fix the American consumer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the ailment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you fix debt?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you get money into the hands of the American consumer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Four ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, and preferably, with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">jobs</b>, but that is not happening and will take too long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are already over three years into this mess and unless we want our very own “lost decade” we need to nut up and find the political will to take some fast acting medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Faster alternatives are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">giving money away</b> (simply not doable), or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">cutting taxes</b> (not powerful enough, limited in scope, and subject to political shenanigans).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLjgVwxC6xLtMBto5TFiWk53IaN1aDe1ZpOchCrNtyM9sPJYa3NZ2IWwus15_-sxmCZU1Vw6FrkgwUn8uRQiTlgdBwOsMQGk_3LHi4meyP1ZnTahzIK9lZ40Y0aTqb-0-B2FE-ylUBph0/s1600/War+bonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLjgVwxC6xLtMBto5TFiWk53IaN1aDe1ZpOchCrNtyM9sPJYa3NZ2IWwus15_-sxmCZU1Vw6FrkgwUn8uRQiTlgdBwOsMQGk_3LHi4meyP1ZnTahzIK9lZ40Y0aTqb-0-B2FE-ylUBph0/s1600/War+bonds.jpg" /></a></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>American should declare war on the Recession</em></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real answer is to allow everyone to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">re-finance</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How? <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Consumer Bailout</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We, America, can lend ourselves the money to re-finance our 2.5 trillion dollars in consumer debt, at very low interest rates and with a long repayment period to provide a low monthly payment. We can do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, we can. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggu31QVjCsaCjFGyjmKdTEPCg2LLcgWRvV21WRzSQohtgWGmSa_k5ozebjhWXVrGF5EQkRfsHTJWL-G5tvOxYiWJWx0KNrOB_qaT9Xvwl1FF27vKTE2lHImNU3hUQwH7vtqrVNwmN9K-U/s1600/Obama+thumbs+up.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggu31QVjCsaCjFGyjmKdTEPCg2LLcgWRvV21WRzSQohtgWGmSa_k5ozebjhWXVrGF5EQkRfsHTJWL-G5tvOxYiWJWx0KNrOB_qaT9Xvwl1FF27vKTE2lHImNU3hUQwH7vtqrVNwmN9K-U/s1600/Obama+thumbs+up.png" /></a></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Go, Bo! How about some leadership?</em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Here’s how it would look:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Treasury sets up a $2,000,000,000,000 special credit facility where any American consumer can consolidate all of their consumer debt (non-mortgage) into a Federal Consolidation Loan.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDHfOfvc1MJhoO2Zcw0iNTV7TBoxyfaC56sFq6TwFAIO5CqQzuytC3CXTt_mcOp9fHPYpHJG84q-pVdWGLSxGHZ1Vs0d1a9-jgNtJJ9hVb0taFXnrar_q1AQtcaVIj1V__SI9k-McqtU/s1600/Ben+B+wine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDHfOfvc1MJhoO2Zcw0iNTV7TBoxyfaC56sFq6TwFAIO5CqQzuytC3CXTt_mcOp9fHPYpHJG84q-pVdWGLSxGHZ1Vs0d1a9-jgNtJJ9hVb0taFXnrar_q1AQtcaVIj1V__SI9k-McqtU/s1600/Ben+B+wine.jpg" /></a></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Not your Daddy's Depression</em></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Not your Daddy's Solutions</em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Banks and Credit Unions will conduct intake and process the loans for 50 basis points of the loan amount.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Treasury issues special classes of bonds to finance the loans, initially to be paid through repayments, and insured by the full faith and credit of the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Treasury will charge a 100 basis point insurance fee for this.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The IRS will issue the loans and process repayments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loan issuance will be directly to the consumers’ creditors, similar to the process used in distributing funds in bankruptcy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haircuts may be required where interest or fees are excessive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Repayments will be required to be automatically taken out of borrowers’ payroll checks where applicable, or remitted monthly otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>IRS will charge 50 basis points per payment amount.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Borrowers will be able to borrow at the prevailing 30 year bond rate plus 2% for a period of up to 30 years depending on the amount borrowed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Borrowers will be able to borrow up to $200,000 dollars for existing debts that are at least six months old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Borrowers will be able to obtain forbearances for periods of unemployment or financial distress similar to those available to student loan borrowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcO4Jc2oTbdygg4xEFVNBhT5ICqm8Fcot0-cHTTW-n_kRN3-1r7gDrZYvAXI0CmrKIyX6f5Q2cEHfPCQ6zsoqx0G-z5fwvC8Xt0BEm4rJCVwYS2hYcNnrribimFjJIqw2l1WtElh1Olss/s1600/Elizabeth+Warren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcO4Jc2oTbdygg4xEFVNBhT5ICqm8Fcot0-cHTTW-n_kRN3-1r7gDrZYvAXI0CmrKIyX6f5Q2cEHfPCQ6zsoqx0G-z5fwvC8Xt0BEm4rJCVwYS2hYcNnrribimFjJIqw2l1WtElh1Olss/s1600/Elizabeth+Warren.jpg" /></a></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>A fresh perspective on credit</em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Conditions can be put on eligibility that consumers pass a money management literacy test and agree to some limitations on future credit to prevent them from going back into unmanageable debt. More people can get used to paying cash for a while.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjoR6S4rZRVfA83ATo6GmYCBXWXIaig7l4dU6vNWAFuvJ2F_AGmdw-Wr0OuknxLuLcu2mw5xu_uZSWd9VAjAcoLfbZrOhJ4Sya9igceNdDW0P-yqD8SD12rtg9oG0HeHkLFLpLebWQ0Vg/s1600/suze_orman_money640.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjoR6S4rZRVfA83ATo6GmYCBXWXIaig7l4dU6vNWAFuvJ2F_AGmdw-Wr0OuknxLuLcu2mw5xu_uZSWd9VAjAcoLfbZrOhJ4Sya9igceNdDW0P-yqD8SD12rtg9oG0HeHkLFLpLebWQ0Vg/s320/suze_orman_money640.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Teaching a better way</em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We need new leaders is Washington who will try new solutions. Consumer credit on this scale is new. The solution to these problems will need to be new.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2P4DE8AGLll4AeK2qZnQ_YWxS0ekvjYMrRjfdrHrcIPFF3IAJeQm45faa6pF8yV-T1mh05aZg2Py8ossez-kOwzcjKGMQqkHMmPZojggvt1RT1UuSS3Ul3Z4tySqkVoiCJVtyHO24wtA/s1600/Austan+%2526+Robin+Goolsbee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2P4DE8AGLll4AeK2qZnQ_YWxS0ekvjYMrRjfdrHrcIPFF3IAJeQm45faa6pF8yV-T1mh05aZg2Py8ossez-kOwzcjKGMQqkHMmPZojggvt1RT1UuSS3Ul3Z4tySqkVoiCJVtyHO24wtA/s320/Austan+%2526+Robin+Goolsbee.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>New Generation - Economist Austan Goolsbee</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em> and his smokin' hot wife Robin</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Debt is the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Restructuring is the answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everybody benefits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The American people will get relief, and American families will not be torn apart by the stress and shame of foreclosure and bankruptcy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Banks and creditors will get paid, filling their coffers and strengthening their balance sheets.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What’s not to like?</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-7726200851833839272011-02-20T13:30:00.001-05:002011-02-20T14:07:48.284-05:00"I Prefer" GameEver been on a car trip when the conversation wanes? Or on an date that's headed straight to awkward handshakeville? Well it's time to review some old reliable methods of breaking the ice. Alcohol, as always, is optional.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong><u>I Prefer . . . </u></strong></div><br />
<ol><li>Ginger or Maryann (for tradition's sake) [Alternative - Jennifer or Angelina]</li>
<li>Marilyn Monroe or Pamela Anderson</li>
<li>New York, LA, or Vegas</li>
<li>Poker, Blackjack, or Slots</li>
<li>Shots or Champagne</li>
<li>Britney Spears or Katy Perry</li>
<li>Justin Beiber - Yea or Nay</li>
<li>Harry Potter or Indiana Jones</li>
<li>Skiing or Snowboarding</li>
<li>Road or treadmill</li>
<li>Beach or Pool</li>
<li>SUV or Mini-Van</li>
<li>American Idol or Survivor</li>
<li>Real Housewives or Desperate Housewives</li>
<li>Friends or Cougartown</li>
<li>Katie Couric or Brian Williams</li>
<li>Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann</li>
<li>Tom Brady or Peyton Manning</li>
<li>Jack Donaghy or Michael Scott</li>
<li>Kate Moss or Kate Winslet</li>
<li>First Date - Dinner, Nightclub, or Church</li>
<li>Text, email, or call</li>
<li>Superbowl or World Series</li>
<li>President Obama or President Bartlet</li>
<li>Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, George Lazenby, Daniel Craig, David Niven, Roger Moore, or Timothly Dalton <br />
</li>
</ol>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-31135609998485444652011-01-27T18:01:00.000-05:002011-01-27T18:01:14.390-05:00Quick Thoughts Up EarlyI'm up early this morning as the wife is on vacation while I keep the household intact. Everyone involved is a little nervous about this situation.<br />
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So watching the tv, natch. I think the GE ad I just watched was about cows farting. But that couldn't be right. Could it?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSTOrIeOZkaI-yVG0rNLy10rfT_9yZNx67uB8PGaGP9U63xZYcRAeBuu4gl4tHJt7ZtKD907aWBGEXmJBloyVVNOOB7BecPlj-KVMtSGZjkY7dT4zDvd1W4bLuM_ujt2_dxLmMocpmCnY/s1600/cow_ass-530x397.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSTOrIeOZkaI-yVG0rNLy10rfT_9yZNx67uB8PGaGP9U63xZYcRAeBuu4gl4tHJt7ZtKD907aWBGEXmJBloyVVNOOB7BecPlj-KVMtSGZjkY7dT4zDvd1W4bLuM_ujt2_dxLmMocpmCnY/s320/cow_ass-530x397.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Bringing good things to life</em></div>I like Obama, but I could not watch the entire SOTU. Watching the live feed beforehand was the most interesting part. Cliche, cliche, random citizen story, laundry list of shout outs to various causes, Sputnick?, drill maker, lame national goals including percentages (80% of something), India, China, math & science, blah, win the future!, blah, blah, blah.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffwIYJa2lE7JoM0GIC352NQrHijuUs7GbbZMUvATnbqrVxCwr_EfRxDlcW9otqquViZ1dqRXetstyBZvQ7nn_Spa1SZfC8B3B-wqF1bDIU3sjT4e691n6I2iGtqqOjVSITqA9MxCFONc/s1600/flags.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffwIYJa2lE7JoM0GIC352NQrHijuUs7GbbZMUvATnbqrVxCwr_EfRxDlcW9otqquViZ1dqRXetstyBZvQ7nn_Spa1SZfC8B3B-wqF1bDIU3sjT4e691n6I2iGtqqOjVSITqA9MxCFONc/s320/flags.gif" width="320" /></a></div>Morning Joe. - Just realized that the guy I thought was Donny Deutsch on a bad hair day is Mark McKinnon. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gDg2WumoTME0v3VGAzqqISRdvNbW0pvhmQhDJIENn6XoP-PT6lVSQbzMyPVZsqDZs9CnhGO_YuFc3_XzJ6ywt6l9JnMD0unhgXUECK6802J2xX0cu5IpfjdDNCaB6c4Z1oaUba8EYfc/s1600/deutsch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gDg2WumoTME0v3VGAzqqISRdvNbW0pvhmQhDJIENn6XoP-PT6lVSQbzMyPVZsqDZs9CnhGO_YuFc3_XzJ6ywt6l9JnMD0unhgXUECK6802J2xX0cu5IpfjdDNCaB6c4Z1oaUba8EYfc/s320/deutsch.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Self confident!</em></div>Who is Mark McKinnon? A Texas Republican, apparently. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGi-iNIICWBZ9-A3NwK-eHKY_CJF3qeehgYwDED2GnEAHsQEucwNTxDAZJpPF_BV_THXKHHPgwUPWzrFbPwT99WLnY-1lfBhWZA25PYfHGFC-L-BGA7NZOL_Xgv-6sYWsRJnrMBY3VFV4/s1600/mckinnon_mark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGi-iNIICWBZ9-A3NwK-eHKY_CJF3qeehgYwDED2GnEAHsQEucwNTxDAZJpPF_BV_THXKHHPgwUPWzrFbPwT99WLnY-1lfBhWZA25PYfHGFC-L-BGA7NZOL_Xgv-6sYWsRJnrMBY3VFV4/s320/mckinnon_mark.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Tony Blair is on tv for some reason, continuing to alienate even more people. So he's still alive in case you were wondering.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUgsl8jsmpHs0HTCs3aYdmsSdHeKrRYsmi_2Xco-gu4a9jXnRRxWqTkUA7HAhxrdhcUbmCj7u_KeK0kv88Cj9Ii46sVFkem5hcFhvUCFlpWivnpqLKIC7RVMsSOemOf7pBDgfRi48KVo0/s1600/tony+blair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUgsl8jsmpHs0HTCs3aYdmsSdHeKrRYsmi_2Xco-gu4a9jXnRRxWqTkUA7HAhxrdhcUbmCj7u_KeK0kv88Cj9Ii46sVFkem5hcFhvUCFlpWivnpqLKIC7RVMsSOemOf7pBDgfRi48KVo0/s1600/tony+blair.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Mika's new haircut is too short for my taste, but she still looks good. Joe looks like he didn't comb his hair after showering.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-cLY92LwJrJjKkumi-9_ecFEE6-zu8VWycYDgsOWH6TD_M99XANdSh-na2nZCYCisbsG3ZvlYFlVrAOdfzXPzg8IqTtxqtAV0knwudzvp5mRTHS6skZT-OEZ94wVrJTzfNbEdAFE27k/s1600/Mika+feet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-cLY92LwJrJjKkumi-9_ecFEE6-zu8VWycYDgsOWH6TD_M99XANdSh-na2nZCYCisbsG3ZvlYFlVrAOdfzXPzg8IqTtxqtAV0knwudzvp5mRTHS6skZT-OEZ94wVrJTzfNbEdAFE27k/s320/Mika+feet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Mika feet</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Colbert Report (Tivo'd) - Tiger Mom Amy Chua. Yale Professor and unimpressive. This chick is berating her kids for not measuring up? Her hair is a mess, "yup", "um, um, um". Laughing too loudly at inappropriate times. A model of insecure obsession to conform to the 19th century WASP ideal. Don't know what to make of her smile being on one side of her face. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatVgsUh1osscB7j5LUksZR8nJjmLbFcPcAlMF7VVCKhJE2nb1uUtZLw0EcGCIOJLHMLEZJ7u1u26Pne7-c7u6sh_bIuZ9Htk21p3OxgwNdW5UyMSlkPj9x2ro4hBrnW4I-WknUwoU9OM/s1600/Chua4a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatVgsUh1osscB7j5LUksZR8nJjmLbFcPcAlMF7VVCKhJE2nb1uUtZLw0EcGCIOJLHMLEZJ7u1u26Pne7-c7u6sh_bIuZ9Htk21p3OxgwNdW5UyMSlkPj9x2ro4hBrnW4I-WknUwoU9OM/s1600/Chua4a.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Role model?</em></div><br />
Hi ho. Off to work I go.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-35091453907725593852011-01-17T14:39:00.000-05:002011-01-17T14:39:49.033-05:00Gabrielle Giffords<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGIu-oyxLi0kckuzgvmlSgmUJWuu31PMuuYMlWpHeX68D1CaWtoVX75CQKq5DK-kF9kw6VjtOBFPQrVRnGo-GlsjKwshauWYy1jUqe-IwD9eYRJCUVx-iklBWq9nAF3Eq2-2assp16c2U/s1600/Gabby.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGIu-oyxLi0kckuzgvmlSgmUJWuu31PMuuYMlWpHeX68D1CaWtoVX75CQKq5DK-kF9kw6VjtOBFPQrVRnGo-GlsjKwshauWYy1jUqe-IwD9eYRJCUVx-iklBWq9nAF3Eq2-2assp16c2U/s320/Gabby.png" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-66476731363198412902010-10-22T08:42:00.000-04:002010-10-22T08:42:32.379-04:00Employment!It's great to be employed! I've been employed now for almost a year, the previous six having enjoyed the perks of entrepreneurship. But not anymore! Now I'm in the office by 9:00 every day, am behind on almost all of my assignments - I have assignments! - and someone is keeping track of how many days off I have in my "personal time bank." This all may sound mundane, but it is really quite a joy.<br />
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I don't have to worry about whether the company will have enough cash to make payroll, or if "the system" crashes, or whether the taxes are being done correctly. Or any of the other stuff that entrepreneurs are responsible for without having any idea of how to fix if it goes wrong. Someone else worries about that. I assume. I don't even have to worry about whether anyone is worrying. I'm in the middle of that magical employed state of mind where the company just seems so stable that it will last forever and all I have to worry about is the size of my bonus.<br />
<br />
Ahhhh.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLl89mFE869AMonH1qv8x43thy4zCcQ7OVZK3MjOam4YcMUPqYBCMQtkhEwTvf9uDRHwT8S8ebn84H4VsaKKhC-frs5PJ1-nJMjM6bKJBmRu-aWz9XDIPPyQY5LgY0PdMFmhfkItTy-k/s1600/office_space_se-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLl89mFE869AMonH1qv8x43thy4zCcQ7OVZK3MjOam4YcMUPqYBCMQtkhEwTvf9uDRHwT8S8ebn84H4VsaKKhC-frs5PJ1-nJMjM6bKJBmRu-aWz9XDIPPyQY5LgY0PdMFmhfkItTy-k/s320/office_space_se-0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I wonder who I will have lunch with today? TGIF.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-23380805482606831532010-10-07T07:56:00.000-04:002010-10-07T07:56:53.785-04:00No Plan ObamaWhat's the Plan, man? The country needs a plan, a path, a roadmap, guidance, leadership, something. Where are we going? What are we going to do?<br />
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Speak up!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9RlDNxwAJI-Jl66khH4L2rjNDgvJr5Y_x-w_Ire6MoUC5rd0ZX5_sN0fNAbwbC3wVf8n51Yn_MsPclyMtIovzmYw1JmnlBhlAWsut7Igk1Qq6f5d0hKTukIDyLN0K9jrkzwqV391FV0/s1600/Obama-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9RlDNxwAJI-Jl66khH4L2rjNDgvJr5Y_x-w_Ire6MoUC5rd0ZX5_sN0fNAbwbC3wVf8n51Yn_MsPclyMtIovzmYw1JmnlBhlAWsut7Igk1Qq6f5d0hKTukIDyLN0K9jrkzwqV391FV0/s320/Obama-1.jpg" width="272" /></a></div><div align="center"><em>Let them eat cake?</em></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">No plan. That's why you're losing the mid-terms.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-71831159812286346912010-09-12T10:12:00.000-04:002010-09-12T10:12:37.218-04:00Time Marches OnIt's been nearly a year since we've had a posting here, and lots has been happening. The Worldview has a whole new perspective. From way further North. Brett Favre and I have left southern comfort to "enjoy the seasons" in the land-o-lakes. Of course Brett's situation is more comfortable than most, while mine is more "average American."<br />
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There is good news in the world. The Iraq War appears to be somewhat over. More or less on some kind of Korea model. Anyway, it's good news. Maybe this will do for Obama what winning the first Iraq War did for the first President Busch.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO4IfepSn7jGHrWa2aDvWiC_Odr_H3LDWIkQF-1J8FTAJxgu9g-6Pdd2ILJsrfcwW4B8P6dgHQSbKEt9fWUKjebSDLtmd7gOGkeqyEQaPepOWaZIDq6xWPA-XEVKVQzXtrAp0TlY5_zk8/s1600/obama-troops-hmed-140a_rp420x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO4IfepSn7jGHrWa2aDvWiC_Odr_H3LDWIkQF-1J8FTAJxgu9g-6Pdd2ILJsrfcwW4B8P6dgHQSbKEt9fWUKjebSDLtmd7gOGkeqyEQaPepOWaZIDq6xWPA-XEVKVQzXtrAp0TlY5_zk8/s320/obama-troops-hmed-140a_rp420x400.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The politics are active but not much fun these days. Up here opinions rum the spectrum, just like down south. Here both Michelle Bachmann and Al Franken represent us. Back home both Jimmy Carter and Newt Gingrich are on the local scene. So while our states might be red and blue on the electoral maps, they really are both mixed bags of political opinions.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFj7K1_z1M2YZQcqFrWCjN7hGHoVWcrnYITQKAsEtYB1Cnr1HBP3y9FjITXlfxZbAVRf9eSqSZIf3u2kT0NGeBvhdcc4DNHZq1pViJNeDuhGSXlLP4EpMMlQKMoOObyEiFTZP8v1bObo/s1600/bachmannindecision.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFj7K1_z1M2YZQcqFrWCjN7hGHoVWcrnYITQKAsEtYB1Cnr1HBP3y9FjITXlfxZbAVRf9eSqSZIf3u2kT0NGeBvhdcc4DNHZq1pViJNeDuhGSXlLP4EpMMlQKMoOObyEiFTZP8v1bObo/s400/bachmannindecision.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Braving the Cold of a Blue State</em></div><div align="left" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Word on the tv is that our Republican friends are on verge of a big victory in the "mid-terms." Not tests, elections. Obamamania is all but dead. The consensus is that he blew his big chance. It's hard not to agree. We can only hope that the next batch of pols will hold true to form and not do what they say once elected and actually come up with a way to fix the economy. Expectations are universally low.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi74IS6edaBOUxFcTvZHgNibs1M2VCz_ByOwwrRVsGNCgacwWoFckxjtbAACgPsApqwF_GhdljyCE-ZoCdIwwmH-LAzItcCW0QuYsBpARcZSf3ZaO9fuT6wBU04ywbLoZ5JFgmpdGzFhn8/s1600/GDP+2010%3D2011.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi74IS6edaBOUxFcTvZHgNibs1M2VCz_ByOwwrRVsGNCgacwWoFckxjtbAACgPsApqwF_GhdljyCE-ZoCdIwwmH-LAzItcCW0QuYsBpARcZSf3ZaO9fuT6wBU04ywbLoZ5JFgmpdGzFhn8/s320/GDP+2010%3D2011.bmp" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Obama's fall from grace may seem counter-intuitive. He won the war in Iraq against . . . the bad guys, and the troops are coming home. He took office in the midst of a true economic crisis, and managed to contain it. But memories are short and distorted. The urgency of the financial meltdown and the bogginess of the war don't seem so serious as they fade into memory. Obama is the cleanup man with the mop who gets blamed because he is found in the middle of the mess.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6QEt5QfIjnS3I7TuvcKbzWLLEM7vxHnnsEQBZp8VWqdsAxjNT4tZJ6zdvlQvxw9hinONs4eDUNAw14vILN7qV6MdZ1070IX1GBmZH-EyzEzBQviVFM1lSSEeBZnN37Yx5FYzNFecsryA/s1600/obamamop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6QEt5QfIjnS3I7TuvcKbzWLLEM7vxHnnsEQBZp8VWqdsAxjNT4tZJ6zdvlQvxw9hinONs4eDUNAw14vILN7qV6MdZ1070IX1GBmZH-EyzEzBQviVFM1lSSEeBZnN37Yx5FYzNFecsryA/s320/obamamop.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The country will muddle forward. It reminds me of the 1970's. People will turn inward and reevaluate their priorities and the meaning of our lives.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">So it's September and a brand new season is upon us. A thankful time to enjoy life.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Labor Day means that Fall has come to this part of the country, along with the start of school. This is a mark of a civilized sensibility that is a comfort to traditional minds. School (and football) should not start before Labor Day. The seasons of our lives should not be slaves to meaningless celestial occurances like equinoxes and solstices. It is Fall now. Days are shorter, golf is cheaper, and sweaters are occasionally needed in the evening. There is a fresh crispness in the air and khakis are on sale. Eating dinner outside is truly pleasant. Hmmmm. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEjUC8gbWJiN0gJt76ncACKkgS5t2kak6u440xRocmBgWeaF2gxbItJUPmKGcod_aCgTqMpmAHyAp3rqpevLPt7iDHenvIVQqsJtzJfi97Glpty4HDKmG3PDuK46lTPiMEHeLXzfAF6eU/s1600/FallBridges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEjUC8gbWJiN0gJt76ncACKkgS5t2kak6u440xRocmBgWeaF2gxbItJUPmKGcod_aCgTqMpmAHyAp3rqpevLPt7iDHenvIVQqsJtzJfi97Glpty4HDKmG3PDuK46lTPiMEHeLXzfAF6eU/s320/FallBridges.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Life can be beautiful.</em></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-51186541532496893192009-11-07T10:59:00.030-05:002009-11-07T13:10:23.377-05:00Dog DayFour appointments today. Spread out around the metro area. Equipped with printed mapquests, an aging and out of date GPS in the car, the sporadically functional Sprint navigation system on my Blackberry, a full tank of gas and a 12-pack of Diet Coke, I head out to earn my daily bread.<br /><br />House calls. That's what's happening today. Meeting folks at their homes to close their loans. Generally it's OK. Today all the folks seemed nice on the phone, and I am on schedule, so things look good.<br /><br />I'm leaving appointment number 2, driving and typing in my next destination on the GPS when - BAM! - I've hit some crazy huge pothole in the road. I feel like one of my tires is flat, and the road is windy and fast, so I vear into an uphill side street as the dashboard lights start to go crazy, and then pull into somebody's driveway.<br /><br />I stop and catch my breath. Well! That was stressful. Now what?<br /><br />I look at the house and it seems that nobody is home. Check out the car and sure enough, a back tire is cut and flat. F-word. What to do now?<br /><br />I call my wife to come pick me up. She's not answering. I'm thinking I'll need to find a number for a tow truck. Obviously it has been a long time since I've had a flat tire and I'm not thinking clearly because it takes me a while to remember that cars come with a <em>spare tire</em>. An extra tire! Just for this situation!<br /><br />This is the kind of realization that makes you feel stupid for not thinking of it sooner.<br /><br />So my first step is to the glove compartment, to flip open the owner's manual and figure out where this <em>spare tire</em> might be. It's in the trunk! Finding it under the carpet back there, I reach in and grab it and give a mighty heave and . . . nothing. Try again. And again. It won't budge. Boy, I am really out of shape. Then I realize that the tire is screwed into place back there so it won't bounce around.<br /><br />This is the kind of realization that . . . well, you know.<br /><br />Eventually the tire is out, leaning against the back bumper, and the <em>jack</em> is affixed to the car and I am jacking away to lift the deceased tire off of the ground. Then suddenly I see a shadow move out of the corner of my eye, and thinking that someone has approached (perhaps a suspicious neighbor), I look up to see the <em>spare tire</em> rolling away down the hill of the street. By jacking the car up I've caused the <em>spare tire</em> to stand up as well. And it is doing what all tires are born to do - hit the open road.<br /><br />Thinking quickly, I decide to panic. I run after the tire toward the fast windy road at the bottom of the hill, waving my arms ridiculously and yelling "look out!" Cars stop. The drivers are polite. No honking or glaring looks. I wave apologetically and retrieve the tire.<br /><br />It's getting hot. I'm wishing I wasn't wearing a suit.<br /><br />Back to business. I carefully place the <em>spare tire</em> along the side of the car this time, and return to jacking the car up. I successfully unscrew the flat tire and haul it around to the trunk, where I (FATAL MISTAKE ALERT!) proceed to heave it into the trunk. Then I proceed to push and pull the tire to get it into the trunk's special <em>spare tire wheel well</em> that hides under the carpet back there. As I'm pushing and pulling, suddenly space and time seem out of sorts and I think I might be dizzy, but a loud crashing sounds makes me suddenly realize that the car has been moving and has now fallen off of the jack and the car and the wheel hub are now lying flat on the ground.<br /><br />Thinking quickly, I decide to flail my arms up and down and yell the F-word repeatedly. Then suddenly I see a shadow move out of the corner of my eye, and thinking that someone has approached (perhaps a good samaritan who will change the tire for me), I look up to see the the <em>spare tire</em> rolling down the hill AGAIN.<br /><br />Feeling that fate is against me, I am even more panicked this time, and run down the hill once more. Arms flailing, yelling warnings, hoping that nobody gets hurt because I cannot change a tire properly. Rolling the spare tire up the hill, again, I wonder about how to get the car off the ground.<br /><br />Amazingly, the jack still fits under the car even when it is flat on the ground. Maybe there really is something to that German engineering rep. I silently thank whoever designed the jack for doing a good job, and start cranking.<br /><br />A short time later, I'm back on the road. I'm not even that dirty. I wonder if I have a road hazard warranty for the flat tire. The whole episode only lasted about an hour. Not so bad.<br /><br />If I hurry I can get back on schedule. Here's another insight I'd learned and forgotten, when towns run into budget problems, like now, police seem to give out more tickets. Hurrying begets speeding which begets speeding tickets. So a nice police officer reminded me to drive safely by begiving me a ticket. I can't say I didn't deserve it.<br /><br />Tomorrow I'll be more careful.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtOuhOTeCO4i1C2QGCDeiZ_PVC-CPQpHauhtqxMrupSL-7O0BxHM_jMt7-UTEjJAC9H90dL1sA-ydr-OGw8B_H4oDkTqIivgVSV_fAo74ekJDvIOxZrp6PAY4FA3UBSALBcya5Xr2bDj0/s1600-h/DriveSafelyWDWCastMemberPinLE500.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 150px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 219px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401416744528303474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtOuhOTeCO4i1C2QGCDeiZ_PVC-CPQpHauhtqxMrupSL-7O0BxHM_jMt7-UTEjJAC9H90dL1sA-ydr-OGw8B_H4oDkTqIivgVSV_fAo74ekJDvIOxZrp6PAY4FA3UBSALBcya5Xr2bDj0/s400/DriveSafelyWDWCastMemberPinLE500.jpg" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-63941879422232476732009-06-14T11:35:00.032-04:002009-06-14T16:02:14.153-04:00Good Deeds Punished<div align="left">Are we a Nation of Nitwits? Or am I just stuck spending time with the wrong sorts?<br /></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347224677413673186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 265px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT99MmtMXDvbDIUc-yKCsUTUCO29LHRCQQXn2xaB0hcpp0GZcROwNJcqUTOTCdcon88lzhmByko1YKQKHFYcCFy4vmife8wMMryIdQ37ebDV9nmACLXTJ_JT-ApCXSLauupAHJkHdQqyc/s400/nitwits.jpg" border="0" /> </div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="left">These are the questions I ponder as I listen to the folks I meet throughout my days who feel quite comfortable in sharing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">snarky</span> political opinions about President Obama. These folks really don't like Obama. And why should they? Him being a big government Socialist who caused the Great Recession and all. Except of course for those days when he is being a big government Fascist who caused the Great Recession. Or those days when he is a big government Muslim . . . well, you get the idea.</div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347225357092341074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 217px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 258px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5yyFXW35RjsPWeYcxCptEmR6CBgOBm_7BpuFcX1kSQUg1DZUhvG9BDZz92PHrOH_qCm6SyRV2wQpB-e43Yi1Od5hCnhVKbuaKzw7O8uynNAojPCp0-6RH_mBdWWLuIH7YdBVfZ6Hz-w/s400/AntiObama.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"><em><strong>So Clever! </strong></em></p><p align="left">Yesterday's experience was pretty typical. I was dealing with an elderly couple who were, of all things, refinancing their home mortgage. They were very old to be doing this, which brings to mind a few questions about personal responsibility and the virtue of thrift. But, thanks to Fannie Mae, such concerns can be set aside because our federal government has allowed folks like them to get a brand new mortgage loan on their home at 4.5% interest, which they are scheduled to payoff in full at the age of 114.<br /></p><p align="left">No wonder they have such negative feelings about the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">government</span>. </p><p align="left">These folks are supported by government welfare payments called Old Age Insurance Benefits or Retirement Insurance Benefits. This "insurance" apparently is designed to provide protection against the risk of becoming old or becoming retired. Go figure.</p><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Old Age Benefits come from the federal government's Social Security Administration, which sounds suspiciously <em>socialist</em> to me. So we can all understand why these oldsters would be hostile to these Big Government programs. And much to what I am sure is their chagrin, the oldsters are also forced to get socialized medical insurance <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">through</span> Medicare, yet another <em>government</em> scheme to destroy Capitalism and redistribute wealth.<br /></div><div align="left">With all of this government intrusion into their lives, no wonder they feel resentful about it.<br /></div><br /><div align="left">Of course like most of the folks I deal with who are over 65, they wanted to know if they needed to renew their exemption from paying school taxes. That's right, here in Georgia schools are funded through property taxes. But if you are over 65, you are exempt from this. This may seem shameful to people who care about things like children, or their country, but it was the only way that the people of Georgia who <em>do care</em> about education could get the oldsters to vote to fund the schools. It was a deal.</div><br /><div align="left">As one elder put it to me, "We want to make sure we get that exemption, especially since our kids are out of school now." Of course this is a perfectly sensible and self interested view. If you assume that self interest is perfectly sensible. </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">This is the Republican Party view of good democracy in a Capitalist America. If everybody votes for their own self interest, then that will translate into better results for all of us, and the country as a whole. It seems to sound OK. The fact that it doesn't really work, and that we all really know this, hasn't dampened our collective enthusiasm for repeating it as a sort of conservative mantra. </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Like the senior citizens I met yesterday, most of the old folks I deal with don't like President Obama. Maybe because I'm a middle aged white guy, they assume I share their "Fox & Friends" worldview, and they feel free to share the Fox-ignorant-talking-point-of-the-day with me. Usually I say something non-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">committal</span>, like, "We'll see what happens" or "I hadn't heard that." There really isn't much that can be said that would make a difference. Folks like this don't do much actual thinking for themselves. They listen to what fits into the established mail slots of their brains, and things that don't fit simply don't register, and fall by the wayside. They sit in front of their televisions nodding along with Glen Beck and sharing his frustration at how the federal government and unions and liberals are ruining the country, in complete self-denial that they themselves are living on the dole.<br /></div><div align="center"></div><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347222189198586818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLj4W_QtHdN-Po-fsVB9MblSQlrLiCwDRuk9uiZq-4XGfkCvC9pBp17CShIveHejnerWu47YXmSMoJMn4WKxHOVi8PFIHVZypvcrqpQVJf6hI1IuMUez6kAwtXEzRrZ-U8IfMwe8IRJe0/s400/Fox+%26+Friends.jpg" border="0" /><em><strong>"Fair & Balanced" - and Friendly! </strong></em></p><p>But of course the real frustration on my side of the fence is that they are us. These are Americans. It is embarrassing to realize that this is true. Their muddled mind mush of beliefs that our country was founded on principles of Capitalism, but also Christianity, while failing to take note of the inherent conflicts this implies, or what this means to us today, really brings up the word "stupid." That all of these folks at the bottom of the economic food chain love Capitalism so much is testament to the power of repeated suggestion. I doubt whether 99% of these folks know a true capitalist who would accept their call. And I doubt whether half of them actually know what a capitalist is.</p><p>So how do Fox and Rush and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Hannity</span> get away with selling such obvious baloney to our citizens? And why are we as a people still so gullible in such large numbers? Here's one explanation from a long ago anti-communist that still rings true, </p><p><em>". . . because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying."</em> </p><p>Karl Rove could not have said it better.<br /><br />For a better written take on Fox News, check out an interesting take by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Deepak</span> Chopra by clicking <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://rickywood.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/fox__friends.jpg&imgrefurl=http://rickywood.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/deepak-chopra-takes-on-the-gospel-of-fox-news/&usg=__I65uo65Hp6AVqLLCQ7uwxquz3XA=&h=415&w=620&sz=74&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=9ytWrqBxvaS9UM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfox%2Band%2Bfriends%2Bcast%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den">HERE</a>.<br /></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347266871764973538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 317px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCn-yeVrHwTCDg2RQhGiftFy0aboVYyng-li6rOjWXK48i2rc7YR5y9VAjrP72hPCpRGo1yMfUme1NpazcHdm3FbyomRfLfaopGMKjsXswq6xtWLr_mnWFUL1uO7B-2H-0JIyqfTDtJU/s400/deepack+chopra.bmp" border="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794360687784963541.post-53296510454869398972009-05-18T21:35:00.025-04:002009-05-18T23:16:28.406-04:00Coming Back to Normalcy<div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;">FEELING BETTER BUT GRUMPY</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;">Miscellanous Idiotic Ravings</span></div><br />Like a lot of folks, I've been busy freaking out about the recession. Like totally, as the kids say.<br /><br />But lately, as the Dow Jones indexes go back up without me, many of us seem to share a feeling that things are at least stabilizing, even if they are not actually getting better. My brain doesn't really believe this, that things are stabilizing, because there is too much quantitative evidence that, economics-wise, we are maybe not even half way down the cliff yet. But my heart is feeling less panic, and so I want to make this positive feeling real by giving it a name. And so does everyone on the tv financial channels. I'm going with "stabilization." The tv people are going with "recovery." But of course, we are all just fooling ourselves to varying degrees.<br /><br />So why feeling better? The USA lost half a million jobs last month. For anyone who doesn't know, that's a really really lot. But it is less than we've lost in a single month compared to the prior six months. (Maybe more. As I said, I've been busy.) So, the question is begged: is this good news? <br /><br />Well, maybe. Maybe losing these jobs is like losing weight when you're sick, and we had too much fat in our banking and retail and carmaking booties anyway, so shedding these jobs is like shedding unhealthy excess mass so our body economic can use it's calories to build muscular work forces in green tech and health care and education and other long neglected systems. So maybe the recession is like a rough fever that will burn out the sicknesses that plague us.<br /><br />Or, maybe losing these jobs is like losing blood and we are running out of life force, and our economy will begin a domino-like series of system failures as the inability of different segments to pay their bills leads to further weakening of other markets, until we are all in an economic coma wondering why we ever thought money was worth any more than the paper it's printed on. And even though I'm kind of curious about how that scenario might turn out, I don't think anybody who's not a crazed western hating Muslim wants to risk it for a real tryout. So we are all crossing our fingers real hard and hoping that our houses will somehow become overvalued again. Because that paper money value is <em>real</em>. It really really is. It just has to be. And someday if we hold on long enough it will all come back.<br /><br />But I am just tired of worrying about it. So screw it. I'm done worrying about money and the news and the daily issues of worry. Whatever happens I'll just have to find a way to keep my family just fine. What can happen? The Taliban takes over Pakistan . . . , so what? It's Pakistan! All the smart people who were there moved here to manage gas stations and not clean the restrooms. I'll bet their nukes don't even work anymore. <br /><br />What other bad things might happen? Gay marriage? All the homos get married and become DINK's. Sales of hybrids go sky high, and William Sonoma rakes it in. Florida condominium sales stage a huge comeback as Judith Martin is crowned Queen of Miami Beach. Iowa, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts declare that only Subarus are allowed in the carpool lanes. Wolves will dwell with wolves and leopards will lie down with leopards. The Great Plaid Debate rages on Sunday morning tv. Who are the idiots who are worried about that?<br /><br />Chrysler and GM go bankrupt and consumers might stop buying their cars. Guess what? We've been slowly stopping buying their cars for years. Know why? Their cars suck. Even the people who buy them know it. They just buy them because they're cheap. Every time I buy an "American" car I regret it. But if a Tahoe costs $10,000 less than a Land Cruiser, then I'll be giving it some serious thought. The carmakers going bankrupt won't make a dime's worth of difference to consumers. Their cars will still suck, but some people will still buy them because they are cheap.<br /><br />Budget deficits. Obama's a socialist. Terrorists are bad. Wall Street is greedy. China is big. Manny's on steroids. And the Asian kids are taking all of the Ivy League spots. <br /><br />Oh noooooooooo!<br /><br />So, what to do in times like this? One thing I've started doing is really more like stopping. I've stopped paying so much attention to the news. Oh I know things are happening all the time. But stop paying attention all of the time and it just doesn't seem like it matters very much. It's like being away for a few months and coming back and seeing tv again. It all seems pretty silly what folks are in an uproar about. You can get the same effect by simply turning off the tv for a week, then watching Fox. The ridiculousness of it all suddenly becomes striking. Glen Beck? O'Reilly? Sean Hannity? For Pete's sake.<br /><br />So, in response to the recession I've stopped losing money as much as I can and started doing odd jobs for cash. In my particular professional parlance this picking up of available work is called "practicing law." But as a business model it's pretty similar to plumbing or housebuilding. All the jobs are temporary and last as long as you're needed. And you might not get paid if you're not careful. So far I've managed to keep paying the bills, but work is harder to find than it used to be. And I'm getting pretty bored.<br /><br />It's not just me. Lot's of guys my age (<em>a youthful beginning of middle age</em>) are re-engineering their careers to find some way to make some money in this climate. And most of us are pretty happy to be making less than we used to as long as we are making anything. This makes talking to people who have been largely unaffected by the recession an annoying undertaking. These are people who have regular jobs. They "have talked to lots of guys who are struggling." Stupid job people.<br /><br />I kind of wish I had a job. But then I think about how it would totally screw up my vacation habits. I like to go on vacation when I want. In my family, we go on pretty standard vacations. Nothing too fancy. But we go fairly often. We like vacations. So we go. But not now.<br /><br />Now summer is here and like most of America, where we live has pretty much all the amenities of any vacation spot. That's one of the reasons why we moved here. We like it here. It looks like it's going to be a nice summer here at home for this typical American family. And I am really looking forward to it. Just a regular low stress summer at home. Beer and burgers on the grill in the backyard. Yeah, Baby.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0